Ever After Happily
by An Cathal Toirmisce
Summary: When Susan learns that she's pregnant and Lucy falls for the last person she should, their lives are turned upside-down. Narnia's more of a fairytale than it seems, but happily ever after is a long way off. AU Lucy-centric, Peter/Susan, Edmund/Lucy
1. Nightmares

_My name's Lucy, and I live on the edge of the forest._

_Well, sort of._

_My sister's a countess in the royal court of Narnia, and that's how we came to live in a small house on the outside of the gardens of Cair Paravel._

_We used to live with an old friend of the family, Tumnus, unfortunately though he's moved back to Lantern Waste to inherit his father's estate. That's wonderful for him, really, but Susan and I get rather lonely sometimes without him._

_We take care of each other, though. She's all I have, really. In the same respect, I'm nearly all she has. We've both had our share of friends, Susan's had her beaus, and I've had one, but they come and go. We're stuck together as family forever._

XXXXXXX

"Hurry up, slowpoke!" Lucy ran through the forest, laughing and smiling.

Susan rolled her eyes, but smiled back and caught up to her little sister. The two girls walked through the forest, arm in arm. They were dressed in fine clothing, like they just came back from some sort of festivity in the royal courts. The sun was shining through the canopy of leaves, radiating comfortable warmth onto their heads and shoulders.

The sisters continued on, the path was bordered with shady trees, on each side, green leaves the size of their hands slowly fell to the ground.

A sound like a curtain ripping echoed throughout the forest, Lucy and Susan exchanged worried glances. All of a sudden, as if the world was a newly struck match, the ground went up in flames. "Susan!" Lucy screamed, seeing the land turn scarlet from the reflection of flames on the ground.

Susan grabbed Lucy's hand and faltered, Lucy's wrist snapped as Susan tumbled onto the undergrowth of the forest floor. Lucy screamed and began to cry, as the forest began to blur into a mess of black, orange, and yellow.

The same forest, in a blue haze, it looked as if it never caught on fire. Down the very path that Lucy and Susan were walking on, a boy was running. His dark hair was damp from sweat, as he pushed it out of his face. He panted as he ran; he just kept going. Determination was written across his face, a fire in his eyes.

In a moment, fire literally appeared in his eyes, as the forest dissolved and only he was left. Slowly, he dissolved as well, leaving only his eyes. The flames grew and suddenly, she was back in the forest, watching the entire forest ablaze.

Flames raged right in front of her, nearly six feet high. Her nose, cheeks, and hair were turning black from the heat, so intense she knew. Yet, she couldn't feel anything at all. With the flames groping at her feet, imagining the excruciating pain she should be in, she took her leave at an amazingly quick sprint, running blindly through the flames and smoke.

The flames climbed up each other, licking around each other in loose curls like yellow and orange hair. She continued to run, blindly, eyes scorching dry from the intense heat.

Running as fast as possible, she dashed into the flames, not knowing where to go. They seemed to morph into a glowing dragon, devouring everything in it's path. The dragon was just about on her, about to launch itself on top of her, and cover her in a labyrinth of flames. She collapsed onto the fire-covered ground, and braced herself for the burn.

Letting her eyes shoot open, Lucy woke up in her bed, gasping for breath, she looked around the room, her chest heaved as salty tears fell down her cheeks onto her pillow.

Inhaling deeply, she sat up on the sweat-dampened mattress. The darkness of the room seemed to tint everything into a dark blue. Her sister Susan was sitting at the foot of her bed, "Another nightmare?" she asked, eyes concerned.

Lucy pushed up on her forehead, as if pushing back her bangs, "Yeah." She panted breathlessly.

"You need to see a doctor. It's not natural to have nightmares every night. Much less the same nightmare every night." She paused, "It was the same one again, wasn't it?"

Lucy nodded, tossing her braid onto her left shoulder and playing with the unbraided hair at the end of the band holding it together, "Yes,"

Not that Susan knew how to read dreams, or that she thought that dreams were all that important to life. Still, her sister had been having the same nightmare every night for weeks. That had to be some sort of physiological flag. "Exactly the same?"

Wrapping a silken dressing gown around her shoulders and tying the sash taut around her slim waist, Lucy opened the heavy curtains to the window. The blue-black sky filled with gray storm clouds, rain fell, splattering the windows with streams of water.

Lucy ignored her sister, Susan only knew about the fire in the dream. She refrained from telling her sister about the running boy. She didn't know why, but she felt as if she shouldn't tell her sister of that bit.

Every night the boy got closer, too. Weeks ago, he was merely an outline, now it was as if he was only centimeters in front of her. Did he symbolize something? Well, if so, whatever he represented was there, right in front of her. Was he someone she would meet soon? Why was he running? What would his importance in her life be? If only she knew.

Thinking back on that portion of the nightmare, she had finally gotten to see his face. He had dark hair, brown eyes, and, surprisingly enough, she remembered that he had light freckles speckled across his nose. She had never seen him before, but, whoever he was, he was rather attractive.

Thoughts about the boy were quickly swept away by thoughts and memories of fire. The nightmare was so real as well. It reminded her of the real fire she had been through earlier in her life.

She had only been six when she had lost her home, her parents, and her future to an untamed fire. Eight years had gone by since that fateful day, and she barely remembered a thing. Merely the smoldering flames, she couldn't remember why or how it all happened.

Nor did she remember how her left wrist had broken so that it tilted away from the rest of her arm. She had asked Susan one day, all her sister had to say about her wrist was, "In the fire, I had to pull you away from the flames, resulting in my breaking your wrist."

All Lucy knew about the fire was what Susan told her, and that was that it was enormous, she broke her wrist in it, and it took their mother's life.

Lucy remembered far more about the morning afterwards, the sun was bright, and the morning air was chilly, for they were far away from the town where the fiery bloodbath had occurred. Her wrist hurt, was thrice the size of normal, and stood out in a way that didn't look natural.

She and Susan had walked for an entire morning thorough the deep, lush forest. Some dryads peeked their heads out from behind a tree, some birds and squirrels gossiped amongst themselves about why two little girls were wandering through a forest, looking as if they had narrowly escaped hell.

As they marched through the forest, Lucy, who was normally a fairly curious girl, had begun to ask questions, "Where's Mummy, Susan? Are we going to find her? How do you know where she is?"

Only nine at the time, Susan was still a very calm and logical person, she choked out, "Do you remember Mum's friend, Master Tumnus? We're going to see him."

And so they did. Susan was extremely relieved to find that the rebel gangs didn't destroy the faun's home, as they had done to them.

Rapping her elegant knuckles on the wood of the door, she waited to see two amber eyes peek out of the barely open door, "M-Master Tumnus?"

The faun opened the door immediately, messy red curls blowing backwards in the draft from the door.

He was surprised to see her daughters at his door without her. But he knew what that meant. She and her husband were gone, killed, dead, no more.

He let the girls in, but he watched the youngest walk in. She looked so much like her mother. Lucy could tell that he was watching her, not thinking much of it, she walked up to him, holding her arm just below her swollen wrist she asked, "May I have a bandage for my hand, please?"

XXXXXXXXXXX

Snapping back to reality, Lucy looked out the window, staring with innocent eyes at the constellations, she found the leopard in the sky, and with her imagination, saw it bound playfully through the heavens.

It scampered and leapt through the sky, before circling behind the moon. The moon was full and brilliantly white. The moonbeams sent themselves down to disperse on the rest of the castle Cair Paravel, bleaching it's already brilliant bricks to a stunning glow.

Susan was already back in her own bed, with the silken sheets up past her shoulders, "Try to get a little more sleep," she began to say something else, but it was slurred out by gentle snores.

Sleep took Lucy rather quickly as well, opposed to the nightmares that often came with slumber; it was rather eventless and deep. The kind that you get completely rested with, even if you only sleep for a few minutes.

Feeling a slight spray of water on her cheeks, Lucy let her eyes open slowly. Letting them adjust to the light, she noticed that the window was ajar, the red curtains billowing slightly in the rainy breeze.

It was no longer raining; the spray that had woken Lucy up was from the fountain that sat in the center of the courtyard She changed out of her nightgown and into a crumpled crimson and white dress. Letting her hair fall down her shoulders, she considered putting on shoes before deciding that she wouldn't need them; she never did, after all.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

He sat in the shade and solitude of the cluster of trees by the outside courtyard of the castle called Cair Paravel. He was tired from his long travel on horseback to the Narnian capitol from Lantern Waste, and yet, nothing could incline him to sleep. The sea was so close, so blue and so deep. If only thoughts could go so deep, there would be enough Narnian poets and philosophers to last a thousand years.

Then, the castle itself, shining ivory against the ebony skies, graced with the charm of an uncountable amount of stars glistening in the midnight sky, was far too breathtaking a sight to simply nod off to.

"Just breathe, Edmund." He told himself, as he had time and time again on the trip to the castle. Just reminding himself to breathe, afraid that with the promise of freedom, he'd forget how.

He sat in the joy of solitude for minutes that seemed to last peaceful, blissful eternities when he let his eyes wander to the fountain, where he saw something that he'd never forget in all the years to come.

He saw her. He saw her walking barefoot through a freezing fountain at two in the morning.

She was neither plain nor pretty, he noticed when he watched her wade through the icy waters. She looked completely human, long reddish brown hair, a slightly round face that was beginning to lengthen from age, almond shaped eyes that, even from that distance he could tell, were as somber, deep, and blue as the Eastern sea. She herself was slim, slender arms were covered with the sleeves to her gown that was gathered and bunched up to her calves so that she could continue on in the icy waters.

He was allowing himself to get carried away in thought, merely about the way this girl looked. She just looked like she was on the Earth to fill up space, neither a blessing to look at nor a curse.

She didn't look like she was from a family that the great Lion Aslan would summon to Narnia from another world centuries ago, nor that the stars would send spiraling onto the earth from their windows in the sky, nor that demons would cast up from the pit of hell farther down than the Underlands_; _simply that she was.

As Edmund thought these things, he couldn't help but smile at himself. How did humans come to Narnia again? He didn't know. Never being one for any sort of religion, organized or otherwise, he never paid attention in classes when they were told of the beginnings of the world. It wasn't that he didn't believe in Aslan, or the power of the stars, or Tash for that matter, simply that he didn't think that any of them had that much influence over things anymore. Like a bird kicking it's babies out of it's nest, or a slave owner freeing his slaves; it was no longer their matter to be concerned with them.

"Why are you staring at me?"

Edmund had been too caught up in thought to notice that the girl had walked out of the water, and was now standing two feet from him. Now he noticed her lips. Dusty pink, soft looking, and delicate. The bottom edge swooped down softly, meeting the top lip. The top lip didn't curve drastically, a soft climb to the top that barely fell down in a gentle, barely existent swoop.

"Huh?" he asked, realizing that her lips were moving.

She sighed, almost in a gasp, her eyes enormous, and her lips parted dumbly.

"I'm Edmund," he said, bowing his head slightly, not knowing if she had any sort of power in the palace, nor if she was a servant.

Dipping in a quick curtsey, not letting her eyes off of him, and her lips still slightly open, as the word came rolling out of them, "Lucy," she said.

XXXXXX

_So, even though I've been having the same nightmare for weeks now, at least something's made itself clear. _

_What exactly made itself clear, well, that's a little hazy. Confusing, I know. All I know is that this boy, this Edmund, I've been seeing him in my nightmares. The only remotely dreamlike part in my nightmares, no less._

_So, I guess I was right; there is something behind my nightmares. _

_I wish that I could just ask him who he is, and what he was doing in my dreams, well, that sounds rather insane, doesn't it? It's best not to convince someone you're crazy until you've known them for more than ten minutes, and even then, it's not the best idea. _

_Either way, I think that I can figure this out somehow. _

_I know I can. _

**A/N: So…taa-daa? This is my first real try at an AU setting actually taking place in Narnia itself, I hope you liked it. Please tell me your thoughts in review form!**


	2. Promise?

_It's a bit odd, how conversations with complete strangers can start._

_Take right now, for example, it started with "Why are you staring at me?" and it's developed into my talking about my daily life. _

_Until now, I've never quite realized how boring my life is. Not being a member of the royal court myself, I just spend most of my life killing time. _

_Not that I'm complaining, oh no. I wouldn't complain when I could be so far worse off. I still thank Aslan every day for how Susan and I made it out of the fire alive, and what's more, we do live quite comfortably, so I'm not complaining, really._

_Anyway, so my life's sort of dull. I can deal with that, I guess. _

_But, I wonder, what would it be like to leave the East for a while, leave the ports and the sea and pursue something greater._

_For a little while, at least, after some time it might get horribly frightening to be in a new surrounding other than the calming East. Thankfully, for me, I'll always have my home outside the gardens of Cair Paravel, and I'll always have Susan to bounce my nightmares off of, and to first and foremost, be my sister._

_Right? _

XXXXXXX

Edmund and Lucy had begun to talk near the giant fountain, but soon the combination of wet feet for Lucy, the spray of the water and the chilled air provided a bit too cold, so they took to walking around the grounds, after doing a lap twice or so around the garden. It was a rather long walk, and it took until the brilliant yellow sun began to peek out from over the Eastern horizon. The clouds were tinted golden and pink, giving the entire sky a bright and beautiful feeling.

They found that, through their walk, they had become friends. Within an hour, Lucy had discovered that Edmund had come to Cair Paravel from Lantern Waste to get away from something. What that was, she wasn't quite sure about. He had learned the basics of Lucy's daily life.

"So, what's Lantern Waste like?" she asked him, when they had come to a silence, it seemed like an opportune moment to learn a little more about this boy.

Edmund picked up his eyebrows, "Why do you want to know that?"

Shrugging, Lucy said, "I've never been there, is all. I've always lived more towards the East."

Picking up a flat stone to skip it on the surface of the sea, he said, "It's a lot of trees, mostly. Most of the older buildings are made of stone and brick, because of the dryads and all. But some of the newer stuff has some wood with it," He gathered a armful of more stones to skip, and went on, "A few towns and markets here and there, but it's mostly rural_." _

"Go on," Lucy said, interested in learning more about the Western edge of her beloved country.

"There isn't much left to say. It's one of those 'you have to be there' places."

Pausing, Lucy turned to Edmund, "I wonder if I'll ever get to visit it."

"You will." Edmund said, smiling, "I'll take you there, and, I don't know…we'll climb a tree or something."

Smiling back, Lucy said, "Sounds like fun. Can I hold you to that?"

"Sure. We'll climb a tree in Lantern Waste someday." Edmund said, leaning back onto his hands as he sat on the ground.

"Promise?" Lucy asked, waiting for Edmund to answer, who immediately got distracted by the rising golden sphere in the sky.

They sat on the cool sand, running it through their fingers as the proceeded to watch the sunrise.

"Is it what you thought it would be?" Lucy asked, knowing that that was one of the things Edmund had been excited to see when he left Lantern Waste; the sunrise at Cair Paravel.

He ran a handful of cold sand through his loose fist, "Yeah, I guess." Pausing to look at the lit water, "I think I just…" pausing again, to make sure he worded everything out carefully, "expected a bit more."

Lucy lowered her eyebrows, "In what way?" While she still wanted to figure out who this boy was, and what the heck he was doing in her dreams, he intrigued her, his opinions and views were unlike any she had heard before; and she was sure that she hadn't heard half of them.

"I don't know. Maybe I was expecting a chorus of angels constantly singing to remind everyone that this is the Narnian capitol." He grinned, before shrugging, "I really don't know."

He seemed a little confused, but in an endearing way. Lucy found herself wishing that she could ask him more questions without being foreword or rude.

Out of nowhere, Edmund half groaned while he uttered out a curse word that wouldn't look at all suitable on your computer screen, "I'm late. I've got to go." Standing up to leave, he offered his hand to Lucy to help her stand, but she was already on her feet.

As he walked away from the shoreline, he found himself turning back, and calling out, "Oh, and by the way, Lucy, I promise."

XXXXXXXXX

Countess Susan Pevensie was wondering where Lucy had gone off to. She had woken up late and was surprised to see that her little sister wasn't in the room. After washing up she looked for a moment around the house to see if Lucy had just gotten up early herself.

Checking each room, one by one. The kitchen? No. The dining room? No. The study? No. Her little sister was nowhere to be found.

It wasn't as if it was the first time she had woken up and Lucy wasn't there, so Susan just set the breakfast table and began her daily schedule on her own.

Applying the basic cosmetics she wore every day (she didn't wear it heavily, as many of the courtiers did. She simply wore it to enhance her already stunning features), she contemplated what she could do that day.

She really wasn't needed in court, the only somewhat interesting thing happening there was that the duke of Lantern Waste was supposed to come that day, and that alone wasn't all that interesting. She didn't know the boy, after all. What did a countess and a duke have in common, anyway?

She could clean up the house, but it really wasn't that dirty. It could use a sweeping, but it wasn't anything that had to be done that day.

She supposed that she could take her bow and arrow out and practice some archery. That always relaxed her. She was just about to do so when the door opened and slammed shut, "Look who decided to show up." Susan smiled at her little sister, noticing that the ends of her skirts were wet, "Where were you?"

Sitting down at the table herself, Lucy fixed herself a piece of toast, spreading a thin layer of jam over the top of it she said, "I went for a walk at about…oh…I'd say…two o'clock."

"You're quite the morning dove." Her sister commented, putting away the cosmetics, and taking a chair at the dining table beside her sister, "Would you like to go into town today? We could mingle, and there's that cloak you've been wanting, I think we've got enough money to buy it."

Lucy sent a knowing smile to her sister, "Hoping to get the mail?"

"You read me like a book." Susan teased, but it was true. She was longing to receive a letter from Sir Peter Wolfsbane, Knight of Narnia.

The title was fancy, and neither of the sisters used it. Lucy didn't because she and Peter were friends, and Susan didn't because she and Peter were far more than friends.

Peter was busy on some sort knight-duty to protect crown Prince Frank XII while he went on a hunting trip in Archenland with Prince Corin. Peter and Susan kept letters going in between them whenever Peter went away to do whatever his obligations as a knight were.

A year ago, on Susan's seventeenth birthday, he gave her a book filled with their letters from the four years they had known each other. Not quite knowing what she was doing, and never having gotten such a thoughtful and romantic gift before, Susan had kissed Peter.

She could remember that night better than even the previous night, it was a small get together, merely Tumnus, Lucy, and Peter. The house smelled like chocolate and cinnamon from the hotcakes they prepared for her treat.

She had gotten three gifts, from Tumnus she had gotten a locket that he said was her mother's, Lucy gave her a quiver for her arrows, and Peter, of course, gave her the beautiful book filled with their correspondences from the years past.

Perhaps a little sugar high from the breakfast treat, Susan had launched herself over Peter and kissed him square on the mouth. When Peter returned the kiss, Tumnus pulled up his Narnian Flute and Lucy took out her Archenlandic Violin and they began playing a romantic tune for the new couple.

Susan loved that memory, though it made her a little sad. Her eighteenth birthday had passed a week prior and when coming of age for everything in every country should be a big deal; the day itself was rather eventless.

The two sisters walked down the cobblestone street, the summer air was already hot and humid, as they reached the town.

The town was a friendly place, young children of every species tossed balls in the lots of some of the stores, women with babies on their shoulders discussed the positives and negatives of their husbands, and men stood in the doorways of shops, playing cards, drinking, or talking.

They decided to split up for a moment, Lucy stepped into a mercantile when she saw a badger friend of hers named Trufflehunter and began to talk with him while Susan continued on down the cobblestones until she reached the post office.

Stepping into the hot, warm, and dusty post office, Susan walked up to the counter, "Morning, Tom." She said to the fair-haired palomino centaur up front who was sorting through the mail, "Any mail for Lucy or me?"

Tom scratched the facial hair under his chin and flicked his white tail, "Hang on," he said as her sorted through the mail, before handing her two thick letters in parchment envelopes.

She walked out of the post office, two letters from Peter in her clasped hand. She wanted to open it immediately, but since letters from Peter tended to be rather intimate and private, she liked to wait until she was in her own home.

XXXXXXX

Because of her nightmares, Lucy didn't like going to sleep at night. She would take forever to comb her hair at night, counting slowly as the brush slid down her red-brown hair to one hundred strokes, and then she would pull her hair back into a tight Calormene braid before deciding that she should brush her teeth again, wash her face again, until she had gone through her nighttime routine twice before eventually and reluctantly crawling into her warm quilts.

She had the nightmare again. It was different that time, though. It started as normal, with herself and Susan walking through the forest, which suddenly caught fire. But the scene with Edmund running was altered completely.

For starters, he wasn't running. It began with the fire dissolving and a cry that sounded like one from a banshee, then that settled and it ended up with Lucy in the lush forest. She was just standing there alone, before all of a sudden turning very sleepy.

In the dream, she had fallen to the ground unconscious and vines were coming up from the ground to smother her and take her into the earth. They slowly climbed around her body, coiling around her waist, wrists, and ankles tightly to cut off the circulation.

She couldn't feel the vines, but she knew they should be tight. Her limbs were being cut raw from the plant's grasp. Leaves and mosses began growing up her body as the vines continued to pull her into the ear. She could hear fire crackling in the distance, and a girl's high-pitched scream and the cackle of some sort of demented hyena. She could practically smell the odor of dirt as she was being pulled further and further into it.

This is where Edmund came in, he ran amongst the trees near where Lucy was being taken by the plants.

Reaching her, Edmund pulled all the weeds from their lethal positions around Lucy. Suddenly gaining consciousness, Lucy squeaked, "Edmund?" and they looked at each other, before she threw her arms around his neck in a tight embrace.

XXXXXXXX

_If I'm going to be entirely honest, it wasn't the worst nightmare I've ever had. After all, I was able to sleep for a full eight hours before waking up on my own time, not from fear. So I guess it was all right.  
_

_I'm really beginning to wonder about Edmund, and his place in my nightmares. So, I know why he was running now._

_To save me. _

_I have to wonder, am I merely getting carried away, and these are simply reoccurring nightmares because I'm still, to quote Susan, 'conflicted with my memories of the fire' or are they some sort of omen? _

_Please, if Aslan willing, let it be that I'm getting carried away. _

**A/N: Crown Prince Frank XII? (cough) I guessed what it would be. The government in this is as if the White Witch never took over, so the House of Frank is still in power. **


	3. Fairy Tales

_You remember Edmund, right? On the tall side, dark hair, rather attractive? I'm going to climb a tree with him in Lantern Waste someday? He's been in my nightmares for the last few weeks? You remember, right? Great. _

_I just found out that he's the Duke of Lantern Waste It's not a big deal, but it kind of makes me wonder why he's never told me before. _

_We've had a while to get to know each other, and now I'm beginning to realize that I know virtually nothing about him. _

_I mean, I know about some of his opinions, and such, but when we met, I did most of the talking. He knows much more about me than I know about him. Actually, I'm not even absolutely sure exactly what he does know about me._

_I call it the 'Edmund Effect' after I talk to him I'm always left with that 'okay, what just happened?' sort of feeling._

_Oh Aslan, did I tell him about my Secret? I hope not. Secrets that turn into proper nouns tend not to be something to just tell someone_ _within the first few weeks, or even months, of knowing them. Not that my Secret's my fault, it's still not the best idea to tell it to people.  
_

_Sadly, because people are people they would probably look down on my entire family, as well as myself, if they learned about it. I don't like keeping secrets from friends, but other than Tumnus, who knew about it anyway, I can't tell anyone about it; it would tarnish the memory of my Mum. _

_I'm a little confused that Edmund didn't introduce himself as the Duke of Lantern Waste; don't people typically use their titles? When Susan's introducing herself to perfect strangers she uses the full Countess Susan Pevensie. It's all very confusing. It's reminding me why I never had any desire to join the court._

_I'll never understand courtiers._

XXXXXXX

Lucy had an old broom in her hand; sweeping out the front of her home was her favorite chore. She loved getting out of the house. Oh yes, the house was beautiful; Old Narnian craftsmanship was present throughout the whole dwelling, there was no question about that.

Still, it was built for a faun and the dark enclosed surroundings sometimes made Lucy feel a bit claustrophobic; she loved the warm feeling of the sun on her cheeks, forehead, and the top of her head.

Being out of doors provided fresh air, as opposed to the stuffy surroundings of being in the door. It was her turn to cook dinner that day, she noted, and she'd be stuck inside with a hot stove soon enough, let her enjoy the fresh air for the time being.

The broom scraped against the stone walkway, clearing it of all dirt, twigs, and debris into the grass beside it. She could tell that her collarbone and face were beginning to turn red from the sun, there were powders that she could put over her skin to protect from the sun, but it was rather expensive and seemed rather unnecessary. Added to that, whenever people wore them, it made them look sickly pale. Lucy was against makeup of any kind, figuring that it made people look very fake, no one is that pale, with lips that red, and no one's eyelids are that dark when the rest of their skin is paler. She hummed a beautiful tune from her favorite lullaby as a child. It was actually the first song she had ever learned to play, and the reason that she decided to learn the Archenlandic Violin, it sounded so beautiful when put to the strings of the confusing instrument. Then again, it sounded beautiful on any instrument, but especially instruments with strings.

She hadn't played anything in awhile, she recalled. It used to be that, sometimes, after supper Lucy would take out her violin and Tumnus would take out his flute and they would play a lively tune whilst Susan clapped along to the beat, the evenings would go off in traditional Narnian folk music, ending, naturally in a soft and beautiful hymn such as 'When The Lion Shakes His Mane' or 'Far to The East'.

She missed Tumnus; he was after all, her best friend. He was always around for support, or a laugh, or anything else you could possibly go to a friend for.

Sometimes though, she used to catch him staring at her, she didn't take notice when she was younger, but as she got older, she noticed and wondered why. Not to mention his reoccurring obsession with muttering, 'so much like Helen' when he thought she couldn't hear him.

She didn't even think she looked that much like her mother. She had seen a portrait of her, they had the same coloring, but that was all she saw.

Her mother was beautiful in her own way, not stunningly so, like Susan and their father (who was, by the way, the grandson of a star) but there was certainly an attractiveness about her that Lucy lacked.

Although certain others didn't see it that way, Lucy figured that she herself was rather plain. Of course, standing next to the great-granddaughter of a star your entire life would most likely make anyone a little insecure about their own looks.

She tried not to let it bother her, just because the way all fairy tales were arranged made up only beautiful girls to be the heroine, that doesn't mean that Lucy couldn't have a good life, right?

After all, this wasn't some sort of fairy tale. This was Narnia, a very realistic place to be, after all, if you were to put it into Susan's words.

Though, if Lucy were to decide, she thought, she might like a fairy tale life. Often she had had daydreams about what would happen if her life were a fairy tale. If she was locked up in some tower guarded by a fire-breathing dragon, or forced to work for her wicked stepfamily.

If she had her fairy tale, it probably would have broken moulds a million times. For starters, if she were locked up in a tower with a fire-breathing dragon, she would probably try (and succeed) in befriending it.

She wouldn't wait for a handsome prince, either. What would the point be in waiting for a prince to come and save you when _you're_ supposed to be the heroine, she wondered. If she wanted a handsome prince then, by the lion, she'd go out and find him herself.

Coming back to reality, she noticed that her throat was nearly completely parched.

The sun was hot, being near midday, she looked up, and noticed someone standing at the end of the walk that led up to the front door of her house, recognizing him as Edmund she smiled, "Hullo."

"Mind if I come in?" He smiled back to her, hesitant to enter the yard.

"Sure," Lucy said, motioning for him to come towards her, "I was just thinking that a cup of tea would sound nice, and you being here is the perfect excuse to stop working."

Upon entering the small house, Edmund found himself fascinated with the little building, more like a cave than anything else, it was small with beautiful craftsmanship on the furniture, a small flight of stairs was in the center against the wall, a kitchen nook was present, open to the world, after you first step in the door, a living area spread from the main area with a fireplace, a table and chairs sat in a corner next to two bookshelves, little stairs were everywhere on uneven ground.

"I know it's not much," Lucy called from the kitchen, "but it's home."

"I think it's brilliant." Edmund muttered, in all of his travels, this one little cave had more Old Narnian design than he had ever seen in his lifetime.

"I think Master Tumnus built it, but I can't be sure. He's the one who lived here with Susan and I a while back, but he's moved. To Lantern Waste, actually. Have you ever met him?" Lucy came out with a tray of tea, and sat it down on the table as both sat.

"Sorry," Edmund said, "I've never heard of the name Tumnus, but I was fairly cooped up back there."

Lucy shrugged as she sipped her tea; it was a bit too hot to really enjoy it without ice. Putting the heat out of mind, she mixed some milk into the drink.

Watching her sip the tea, her lips distracted Edmund again. Just watching the way that they swooped with such soft gracefulness. Oh wait, they were moving again, weren't they? He figured he'd better move his eyes to look her in the eye, but he had a hard time moving them from her lips.

He began to hear what she was saying, "Why are you staring at me again?"

Shaking himself to look her in the eye, "Sorry," he said, "I zoned out."

"You sure you're alright?" He saw her lips curve to make the words, "You're doing it again."

"I'm fine, tired is all." Edmund said, wondering why he was getting so easily distracted. Yes, he had decided that he quite liked the way his new friend looked, but that didn't explain why he kept on getting so distracted.

"Luckily, the tea has caffeine in it, I always drink it when I'm too tired."

"Ever had beanstalk juice?" he grimaced, "It tastes really awful but it's got more caffeine in it than anything I've ever had."

"What does it taste like?"

Edmund paused, before saying, "Ever drank a bottle of floor polish?"

They began a friendly enough conversation about beanstalks, but found themselves involuntarily inching towards the other. They barely realized how they were reacting, but Lucy was blushing madly and Edmund couldn't wipe the dumb grin off of his face.

A loud noise, like someone clearing their throat sounded, and the two looked up, after realizing how close they were, they scooted back their chairs, "Hullo, Su." Lucy said.

"Um…Lucy can I see you in the kitchen for a minute?" Susan said, going into the kitchen herself.

Once Lucy joined her, Susan sent a look outside to the living area, "All right, I'll just be blunt, what's the Duke of Lantern Waste doing in our house?"

Lowering her eyebrow, Lucy said, "Edmund's the Duke of Lantern Waste?"

"Yeah, he is." Susan said, surprised that her sister didn't know, after all, they were looking pretty cozy and apparently they're on a first name basis, "Didn't you know?"

Lucy rocked on her heels, shaking her head, "He's never told me…hang on, how do you know?"

"He was in court last night. So, I take it you know each other?"

Lucy nodded, before leaving the kitchen and sitting across from Edmund again, "So…you're the Duke of Lantern Waste, eh?"

Looking very surprised, and even a little sick, Edmund murmured, "I guess the cat's out of the bag, yeah I am."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Lucy asked, finding herself leaning in again.

Staring into the empty hearth, he mumbled, "Because I don't want to be."

XXXXX

They were sitting in the shade of a large oak tree in the late afternoon, Lucy knew that she should probably be starting supper right now, but laying in the shade next to her friend, talking about nothing and yet everything at the same time, she was just having too good a time to really worry about her responsibilities.

Edmund was certainly opinionated; he had very definite views on anything and everything such as politics, nature, and art and music.

There was something strange, Lucy noticed, he continually asked her questions, and when she asked him anything remotely personal, he would be as quick and quiet as possible, and direct the attention back to her.

It's true people like to talk about themselves, which was why Lucy found it odd that Edmund never seemed to want to talk about himself. For example, Lucy had asked Edmund if he liked music.

"Yeah, sure." He said, "I mean, nothing too terribly slow. That's enough to bore someone to death, and I'm not all that fond of Calormene music, but Narnian and Archenlandic is absolutely fine as long as it's not too slow. What about you?"

"Oh, I like nearly anything, do you play any instruments, Edmund?"

"Nah, I never had time to learn. What about you?"

"Yes, I play the Archenlandic Violin. I chose to learn it because of my favorite lullaby as a baby. Did you ever have a favorite lullaby that you ever really wanted to learn to play?"

Immediately, Edmund said, "No. Never have. Say, have you ever…"

And you get the idea. Edmund didn't like talking about himself, which struck Lucy as odd. Not to mention it made figuring out what he was doing in her nightmares.

"Edmund?" she asked him, "Have you ever…heard of vines coming to life and killing people?"

He straightened up, "No. Did you know that when some people shake their wrists it makes a clacking noise?"

"No, I didn't." Lucy paused for a moment, before asking, "Edmund? Why are you barely answering everything I ask you?"

He stayed quiet for several moments, and Lucy gathered that he wasn't going to answer. Silence hung in the air, heavy and awkward. Each was waiting for the other to say something to stop the silence.

After several minutes, the made eye contact and couldn't help themselves, they burst into hysterical laughter. Something about the awkward atmosphere met by their eyes meeting was just amusing to them.

Eventually though, they had to stop laughing, Edmund had to head back to the castle for his own supper, which reminded Lucy that she had forgotten to cook supper for her and Susan.

Rushing back in her house, she found Susan in the kitchen, when her older sister cast her the infamous Look, Lucy whispered her apologies, "I just lost track of time." She said, setting plates on their table.

"I suppose I'll be even worse when Peter comes back." Susan said, "Just try and remember when it's your turn to cook dinner. Taking turns only works when we actually take turns."

"Oh, when is Peter coming back?" Lucy asked, setting cups and silverware in front of the two chairs.

"He said in a few weeks in his letter." Susan sat down two bowls of some sort of thick chowder on top of the plates before sitting down.

"Are you excited?" Lucy said, smiling broadly.

Susan didn't answer, but her face plainly read that, yes, she was excited. In fact, judging by her face, she couldn't wait.

XXXXX

_I believe in fate. That's just something that has to be known about me. I believe that everyone has a select destiny that they will fulfill before they leave the world. Do I think that we can change our fate? _

_No, but I think we can influence it. I also think that you can think your fate is one thing, but it turns out that it's something else entirely. For example, someone can think it's their fate to become a scribe, but it will turn out that it's their fate to be an illiterate wife of a farmer. _

_It's funny, how we don't write our own fates. I can just about imagine some girl in another universe deciding my fate, and writing it down in something everlasting. Like blood. And then sharing it with just about anyone who would listen. But there I go with my imagination getting carried away again. That happens quite a bit, and you'll have to forgive me. _

_The reason I'm bringing this up is because fairy tales have been on my mind a lot recently. If I lived in some sort of magical realm, unlike Narnia, I'd like to think that my life could be a fairy tale. _

_I could have some sort of important fate, perhaps Mum and Father would still be alive, and maybe I could live happily ever after. _

_However unlikely that would be, I wonder what it would be like to have a sort of fairy tale existence. Again, I'm not wishing that I have a different life, I'm happy here, in my little home, on the outside of the garden of Cair Paravel. _

_I just have to wonder sometimes. _

**_A/N: (cough) To break from the cookie cutter of "please review" I'm going to say, "weiver esaelp" =) _**


	4. The Night of the Fire

**/!\ I did my final edits on this at oh, maybe 1 am? So, if things such as grammar and word flow aren't up to par, please tell me if they're completely horrendous and I'll go over this chapter again, and resubmit it. Oh, and yes, the beginning part with Lucy talking does have something to do with how I'm actually feeling right now. I need to sleep…**

_As I'm sitting cross legged on the foot of my bed, doing my hair for the night, I'm talking to Susan, but I'm not exactly sure what we're saying. _

_I'm too tired._

_I've been up since one last night, I had a dream, and I have to say it confused me. Contrary to what's been happening recently, it wasn't a nightmare. _

_Actually, it was quite the opposite._

_The thing that freaked me out, was that for the first time in almost a month, I had had a pleasant dream._

_Featuring Edmund._

_Before you get excited, it wasn't anything particularly interesting. Just us talking. Nothing more, nothing less. _

_If anything else, it was nice to have a break from the nightmares, but it was a bit odd to be having a dream about a boy._

_Susan and I continue talking, and I continue not paying attention, but I can feel my eyelids closing. _

_I feel myself crawl into my bed, and I'm nearly asleep. I am by the time my head hits the pillow._

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Susan didn't like cooking, and yet there she was again, taking Lucy's cooking shift. It wasn't that she was being all that compassionate to her little sister; it's just that, if one of them didn't cook, neither of them ate. It was just a fact of life, if you don't cook, you don't eat, and if you don't eat, you die.

Remembering the last night, when they had been having a less than adequate conversation to which all Lucy ever replied with was, "Uh-huh" until she eventually forgot where she was and fell asleep in the middle of saying something, Susan had to smile sympathetically. Her poor little sister, she was having such a rough time with the nightmares and all. If only she would go and see a doctor, Susan was sure it was a simple problem, something that could be fixed.

Or, rather, she was hoping that it was a simple problem. The only other logical explanation, other than her sister was ill, was that her sister was mad. That didn't seem likely, Lucy may have been a imaginative and a bit of a dreamer, but crazy she was not.

She put a brass kettle over the fireplace to heat up as she stirred the pasta. The little house was hot from the fire. She wiped sweat from her forehead with her sleeve.

Sitting down on the sofa, watching the flames dance up and down, she couldn't help but feel a quick pang of fear from her memories. Even though it was unreasonable to be uneasy around any fire, and she tried to suppress it, it always reminded her of that fateful night.

The night of the fire. She didn't like to think about it, it was much more of a hard thing for her to think about then it was for her little sister, considering Susan remembered it, the fire, the fear, and the smell of burning flesh.

She remembered it all; she was having a conversation with her mother before it all started. Actually, it was more like an argument. The problem between Susan and Helen's relationship was that they were both a tad bit arrogant and when they got into the arguments that mothers and daughters are bound to get into. they both had to be right, no matter anything else.

"Susan, I really don't need this right now." Helen said, rubbing her temples.

Although Susan was only nine, she was already smart for her age, "Just tell me, Mum. It's…it's going to be like Lucy, isn't it?"

Helen sighed, but stayed silent. She was a terrible liar. Susan wished she could explain how she felt toward her mother at that moment. She could never hate her mother, but she certainly wasn't proud of her. Lucy was once, and she loved her little sister most definitely, but _again_?

Suddenly, they had heard a noise outside, both ceasing their arguments they looked out of the paned window to see a group of cloaked figures with torches coming up the road.

They threw fire into neighbors windows, people ran out into the streets, screaming. Some were begging for the lion to take them then, some were screaming bloody murder, some were simply running blindly.

Helen turned to her eldest daughter, unfastened the necklace she had around her neck, putting it around Susan's, before kissing her on the forehead.

There was the sudden sound of shattering glass before the curtains were swallowed by fire. Helen yelled to Susan, "Get Lucy and get out!"

Over her shoulder, Susan saw her mother grab a sword over the fireplace, and turn back to the window, ready to defend her house, her daughters, and, unsuccessfully, her life.

Susan could hear the wood of the back door splinter as the cries of those out in the street sounded louder and the crackling of fire was beginning to swallow up the entire house.

She ran up the stairs, only to see a gargoyle-like creature break open the glass of the window of the upstairs parlor and throw a flaming torch onto the rug, sending the whole room up in flames.

It wasn't normal fire, when she looked back she could see that. Normal fire doesn't spread that quickly. However, she couldn't figure out exactly why since she didn't believe in that kind of magic. She believed in the Deep Magic that Narnia was built on, but that kind was highly improbable.

She had run into her and her sister's bedroom, which had already begun to dissolve in flame. Lucy was still in her bed, shivering under a patchwork quilt and calling out for her mother of all things to be doing.

"Lucy, come on!" Susan had said, gripping her little sister so firmly around the forearm that the young girl sported a bruise afterward.

They ran through the house, black smoke choking out their lungs. The roof collapsed in flaming wood, cinders dancing through the air in it's demon's dance.

They ran into the chaos stricken street. The entire street was ablaze, like hellfire, every building was engulfed in yellow and orange flames, neighbors screams could be heard, some out on the street, flesh burning as they writhed and called out to the Lion to save them.

Susan, still furiously gripping the young girl's forearm, turned and saw a shriveled hag with a long yellowed beak stab a young child in the heart. The hag's mad eyes drew immediately to Lucy, screeching.

As the hag moved swiftly towards Lucy, grabbing the young girl's hand, the redhead screamed in sheer terror. The hag pulled out a knife from her cloak, on the handle was the top of a vial, filled with poison.

Lucy screamed and kicked as Susan pulled on her little sister's hand. Immediately there was a loud snapping noise, which anyone could hear distinctively even in the pure chaos.

The hag swiped her ugly, yellowed nails at Susan's throat, only to miss, but taking her mother's necklace in her grasp. In a moment both girls were on the ground. Lucy had fallen wrong on her wrist and shrieked in a peal of pure terror and pain. Susan's nightgown ripped from a sharp stone leaving a long bloody cut down her leg.

"Run!" Susan yelled, standing up, running through the cobblestone street, dragging Lucy behind her, crowded with people screaming for their families, falling dead on the street. They tripped over fresh and flaming corpses, but continued on. She never looked back to see if they lost the hag, she just kept on running.

Adrenaline pounded in both of their heads, throbbing. Lucy didn't even notice that her hand had swelled to triple its size. Susan didn't notice the blood coming out of her own leg.

They ran out into an enormous forest, where, momentarily, Susan stopped in a bush. Panting, her beautiful face scorched with smoke, her blue eyes glossed over with tears. She let go of her sister's wrist, falling onto the old bush, on her knees. The fire reflected in her eyes, as it would for years to come.

"Where's Mummy?" Lucy asked, the six year old child's round face was dark and chapped, her own dark blue eyes glazed, and she coughed and spluttered out the words. "I want Mummy. My hand hurts."

Susan snapped out of her memory, it always upset her, remembering that day. She retreated to the bathroom where she reapplied some cosmetics to her face that had melted away. It made no sense to wallow in what had happened, the best things to do were to learn from what you can and keep your face pointed to the future. Just to keep moving foreword, never back.

She washed her arms and neck with some well water that was being kept in the kitchen for cooking when she heard a knock at the door. She walked across the heated house, opening several windows wider to let in some more fresh air, she opened the door, her lips split into an enormous grin as she half asked, half exclaimed, "Peter?!"

XXXXXXXXXX

Lucy was walking through the gardens with Edmund, as usual. They seemed to spend every spare moment they had walking together. Not that there was much else for a duke and a title-less girl to do together, really.

They walked, talking about light things, considering that Edmund never took part in deeper conversations, it was much easier to simply talk about light things, simply fluff.

It was better than nothing, which is what Lucy would be stuck with if she pressed for a deeper level of conversation.

As they walked by a large rosebush and Lucy's elbow got snagged on a thorn. Her sleeve got torn, reveling a light cut with a few beads of blood sitting on it. She quickly examined the cut when Edmund came around, looking at the cut himself.

"That doesn't look too bad." He said, holding her elbow.

"It's just a little scratch," Lucy agreed, before looking up at her friend, and suddenly saw him differently.

Perhaps it was the lighting, or the angle he was in, but he looked so different. The sun caught the sparkle in his earth-colored eyes, his black hair was mostly straight but had several wavy locks mixed up with the rest, funny, she had never noticed before. For once, there was a role reversal, and it turned out to be Lucy staring at Edmund.

Subconsciously again, they found themselves inching in towards the other. She was staring at his dark eyes, wondering what was behind them. He was, once again, staring at her lips.

Lucy inhaled before realizing how close they had gotten. They were close enough, for lack of any other phrase, to kiss.

"S-sorry." She stuttered, backing off and into the rosebush, she gasped sharply as more thorns cut through her dress. Her reaction wasn't so much from pain, as from surprise and embarrassment.

Edmund had to suppress his smile; she was too adorable. "You alright?"

"I think so," Lucy stepped out of the bush, wiping her back off in case there were any thorny branches stuck to her back.

Edmund couldn't help but notice something new about Lucy as she checked for thorns on her back, her left wrist hung out the opposite way that it should. "Hey, Lucy? Mind if I ask you something?"

"Mmmm?" Lucy asked, looking at Edmund with curious blue eyes.

"Erm…" Edmund knew it was impolite to ask people about their appearance, and wanted to be as tactful as possible, "what happened to your wrist?"

So much for tact.

"Well, you see, there was this fire…" As Lucy explained about the fire, Edmund's face contorted.

He looked a mixture of distressed and sick. Eventually, he stuttered, "and…and how old were you?"

"I was six, why?"

Now looking entirely distressed, alarmed, and disturbed, Edmund said, "I've gotta go," and left without a word.

"Edmund?" Lucy called after him, but he never turned around, leaving Lucy with an unexplainable feeling of nausea in the pit of her stomach.

XXXXXXXXXX

_He left, he just up and left without a word. What did I say? All I did was tell him about the fire. _

_What if, he was originally from my old town, and he made it out of the fire, too? What if his story was a lot like mine, only he remembered most of it and it bothered him? Or, did I just do something entirely wrong and our friendship has just been shot out the window? _

_I guess I'll just have to ask him tomorrow._

_I'm standing, alone, in a garden with a torn sleeve in my dress and holding my bloody elbow. _

I think something bit me. Something with very sharp teeth and a very, very sick sense of humor.I think that would explain why my stomach feels so sick, why it has since earlier today. I feel like I'm about to vomit, and I should probably grab a bucket just in case, but I can't move. I'm nailed to the ground.

_I think it would explain why I get so giddy whenever I think about him. It's odd; I've only known him for a few weeks, but it feels so much longer, like I've known him forever. Yet I know so little about him. Why won't he let me know more? Why doesn't he know he can trust me?_

_I think that's why I can barely move as I watch him go, the summer air behind him. Why can't he let me know who he really is, deep down? And, most importantly, why can't he just stay away when I sleep—in both my nightmares, and my dreams?  
_

**A/N: I'm sorry for how long this took. Well, that chapter sped things up, didn't it? XD I know what I'm doing, don't worry. Or, at least, I'm pretty sure I do. Okay, I'm done talking. I'm going to go and sleep. Please review. =)**


	5. Vanished

_He's gone._

_Edmund was just here yesterday, and now he just isn't._

_It's just like he's vanished, it seems. Into thin air. _

_I've walked through all of the grounds, and I couldn't find him anywhere. So, I went around asking any courtier that doesn't think themselves too far above me to talk to me if they've seen him. _

_Most of them didn't even know whom I was talking about. Apparently, they thought that the duke of Lantern Waste was supposed to come but never did. _

_Odd, I never expected that he was spending so much time with me that the other courtiers didn't know that he was even here. I realize that we spent a lot of time together, but I didn't realize exactly how much._

_Eventually, I did manage to find the select few that did know of his being here that would be willing to talk to me. Those included the maid to his chamber, a cook, a faun-lord, and a talking horse named Philip. _

_Philip told me that he packed up and left last night, he apparently went around the castle and said good-bye to the baroness who was housing him, and then the horse himself, and then left without a word of explanation._

_It seems like that's a habit of his, doesn't it? Leaving without a word, I mean._

_I suppose there could be some sort of urgent matter back in Lantern Waste that he needed to take care of, which would explain his leaving. _

_I'd like to think it's just that, but something makes me think that there's more to the story than that._

_It feels like it's somehow connected to my telling him about the fire. After all, he just left the garden after I told him about it. Now he's left Cair Paravel entirely? _

_It would be an odd coincidence, and it seems too…connected to be a coincidence. _

_For example, he first starting appearing in my nightmares, and they always start with a fire. The first time I saw his face clearly in my nightmare, I met him. Then my nightmare changes slightly, but there's still the universal theme of a fire. When I tell him about the fire he just leaves Cair Paravel? _

_I suppose I'll never know now. _

_I'm slowly going on the normal route that we would go on our walks; I guess I'm looking for some sort of magical reason why he had to go. Some sort of sign that would explain everything. _

_He's long gone now, so unless he comes back to Cair Paravel, or if I ever go to Lantern Waste someday, I'll never see him again. _

_I guess he won't be fulfilling his promise to climb a tree with me someday. All I can hope for now is that he'll stay out of my nightmares, and my dreams. _

_You know? It's funny, I could drop everything, all the wonder about why Edmund was so secretive about his life, if I could at least know why he left without saying good-bye._

XXXXXXXX

When you're asleep, you aren't supposed to know that there's someone lying next to you, but somehow, you do. More than ever.

However, it doesn't make any sense as to why. After all, you're unconscious and not even aware of the sheets and comforters cocooning your body, and yet, there's some sort unconscious rise and fall of the other person's breathing to remind you that they're next to you.

In fact, a debatable argument would serve to say that, when you're asleep, you could tell that there's someone next to you far better than when you're awake.

When you're asleep, you sense their heartbeat coordinating with your own, their breathing mingling with your own, you're connected in a way that it's impossible to be when you're conscious.

When you're conscious you miss these subtle connections, being concerned with other things.

When you're awake, you're concerned with not making a fool of yourself, not going too fast or too slow. You're too concerned with hiding your flaws you forget that whoever you're lying with probably doesn't care in the slightest.

Susan laid across Peter's chest, listening to his deep, even breathing. It was getting somewhat irregular as it does when one is waking up.

"You awake?" she asked, listening to Peter let off a low mumble. Keeping her eyes closed, she muttered, "We should get up."

Peter let out a noncommittal grunt, as Susan went on, "Lucy should be coming back soon, I don't want her walking in on us."

"Let her walk in. We're just taking a nap, we're not doing anything." Peter's monotone voice hinted that he didn't want to budge.

She had to admit; she didn't necessarily want to move either, but she didn't want to be a bad influence on Lucy. After all, who else was around to be any sort of influence on the young, far too trusting girl when it came to how to act around the opposite sex?

Susan turned her head, burying her face in the warm smelling cotton of Peter's tunic; she could feel his pulse against her forehead through the soft fabric.

She kept on insisting that they get up, without making much effort to truly do so. Eventually though, Lucy came home. Resulting in Peter and Susan hurriedly getting up, as to not be a bad influence on the fourteen-year-old.

During their supper of slightly burnt pasta, Peter filled everyone in on the latest news from Archenland. It was all rather dreary, the most interesting part being that Prince Corin had gotten in trouble for boxing his tutor, and they had to cut the hunting trip short, which was why Peter was back two weeks before he thought he would be.

The older two noticed that Lucy wasn't being her usual, happy self. She was rather quiet all through supper, and even afterward, when she pulled out her violin for the first time in a long time after Peter suggested that they play some music to entertain themselves, she wasn't truly concentrating and she hit several notes wrong, resulting in the sour shriek much like that of a non-taking Tasmanian devil.

When the evening drew to a close, and Peter had to head back to the castle to go to sleep for the night, Susan decided to walk him halfway.

This mostly provided an excuse for the two to give the other a more passionate good-bye kiss than they would've felt comfortable with when Lucy was in the building.

Before they parted for the evening, Peter whispered into Susan's hair, "Tomorrow I'll make it up to you for missing your birthday, when we find time to be alone," he said, before kissing her one last time on the mouth, and they departed for the evening.

XXXXXX

It was raining again, Lucy sat on the foot of her bed, an earthy-colored quilt wrapped around her shoulders, staring as the rain hit the glass window. It was nearing midnight, and she knew that she should try and get some sleep.

The thing was, Lucy loved these simple pleasures in life. She loved watching the rain fall, she loved watching the stars come out at night, she loved watching the sun appear and disappear beneath the horizon.

She figured, that if it weren't for these little things, everyone would eventually go mad and then that would be a huge mess. They were the signs from Aslan that there was good in the world.

She put her fingers against the cold, smooth glass, and she could feel the pounding of the raindrops against her fingers. She breathed onto the cold glass, leaving a foggy film on the surface. The circle stayed, for a moment, before slowly vanishing.

Two weeks had passed since Edmund left, and she never could have guessed that she would have missed him so much, having only known him for a few weeks. She was getting rather lonely, all alone all day, and now, there was some sort of late night ball in the castle that both Susan and Peter (who, for some reason, had seemed to move in with them,) were invited to.

She was getting rather used to being alone, yes. Still, getting used to something, and liking it are two different things entirely.

She didn't like being alone at night, for the obvious reason of her nightmares, when they scared her awake; she liked having Susan just on the other end of the room, to be a shoulder to lean on.

There was also the unconscious reason, although she didn't remember it. She was alone the night of the fire. It didn't play into her living memory, but subconsciously, be sure that that had something to do with it.

While Susan and Helen were arguing downstairs, little Lucy was playing quietly behind a large dollhouse with some rag dolls. One was Susan's, but because her older sister wasn't there at that moment, she could easily get away with playing with Susan's doll. Besides, she didn't think Susan would mind all that much.

She heard the window creak; she peered out from behind the peaked roof of the dollhouse to see a silhouette crawl through the opening.

The silhouette was a bit bigger than her, not by much though, and it had a flaming torch in it's hand.

It looked around, as if paranoid, before throwing the torch onto the dollhouse that Lucy was sitting behind.

Lucy shrieked, bolting out from behind the dollhouse as it went up in flame. Then she turned to the silhouette, and began to stare at it.

Obviously surprised that it wasn't the only one in the room, it took a pale hand and removed it's hood, revealing a boy not much older than Lucy.

This surprised the young girl, when she thought about these rebel gangs that would destroy whole villages at a time, all in the name of the evil White Witch, she thought of dark and horrible creatures. Ugly trolls, ogres, minotaurs, and other evil varieties of creatures and beasts. She certainly didn't think that a young boy would be amongst them.

She stared at him, the orange glow of the fire, now beginning to take over the room, radiating on his round child's face, she must have looked close to the same way, because he stared at her near the same way, with curious brown eyes.

They stared at each other, neither sure of what to make of the other, until the sound of breaking glass and Susan's screams broke their concentration.

The boy immediately dove for the window, crashing through it and onto a bat-like creature's back. Lucy was on her knees on her bed, the little girl was already overwhelmed, she barely noticed that her bedroom was on fire.

A gargoyle-like creature flew next to the window, scaring the poor girl near to death, when she dove into the quilts, and began crying out for her mother.

Of course, she didn't remember any of this. But the little boy did, he remembered it all too well. The deep blue of that little girl's eyes had left a handprint in his soul, making him wonder what on Earth he was doing.

He just didn't realize that he'd meet her again, eight years later.

XXXXXXXX

_Eventually I was able to get to sleep. _

_It took a while of listening to the rain pound on the cold window before I finally was able to shut my eyes. _

_Naturally, a nightmare was waiting behind them. It was the same one I've been having, with the plants, you know. _

_It was a bit different, though._

_When Edmund saved me this time, his face was a little blurry, and when I said his name, my lips still moved, but no sound came out. _

_I woke up crying again, and Susan still isn't back. _

_Well, she either isn't back, or she and Peter are downstairs. I don't really know._

_I wrap myself up in quilts and start humming my favorite hymns, Far to the East, When the Lion Shakes His Mane, and several others, I can't get myself to go to sleep again. _

_The dreams have gotten so vivid, too. Perhaps I should tell Susan, but I was somewhat able to feel things this time. _

_It's crazy, but I could somewhat feel the heat of the fire on my cheeks and the vines tightly wrap around my wrists. _

_It was a light and transparent feel, though. I know that's confusing, but it's the only way I think I can describe it. It was like everything I was touching was almost a ghost, I could feel it, but it was only an impression. _

_I'm still crying, I realize. _

_I try to will myself to stop, but I can't. _

**A/N: So, after proofreading, editing, and revising about ten times, I'm still not happy with this chapter. Actually, I kind of hate it, but I'm too lazy to re do it again. The next chapter shall both be longer and better! Promise! **


	6. Written Truths

**A/N: Please take notice of the rating of this story is 'T' **

_I'm not alone right now. I have to say, it's really nice to have some company. Most of the time, I'm alone. _

_Peter and Susan are constantly together; occasionally I'm a part of the time they spend together. More often the not, though, I'm left behind. _

_Some people would rather be left behind than be considered a third wheel. I don't really know what I would rather be. I don't think it would be too terribly awful to be considered a third wheel. _

_I mean, at least you'd be invited to come along. From there, I guess, you could keep trying not to be the third wheel. I don't really know. _

_All I know, is that I'm normally left behind._

_It's not their fault; they just want to spend all the time together they can before Peter has to leave again._

_I imagine that it would be a bit of a burden to be courting with a knight. If there's a raid on the castle, they're the ones who have to fight, they're constantly providing protection when the royals visit other countries, oh, and not to mention the yearlong training on the Lone Islands that comes once every five years. I don't know how Susan does it, I suppose when you love someone those kind of things don't matter anymore._

_If you're wondering how I know all about what's going on with the knights, Susan's told me. She's fairly upset, mostly because this is that one year that comes every five years. _

_Meaning, in a matter of days, Susan and I will be standing on the docks, waving good-bye to Peter for another year. It seems like he just got here. _

_I can't help but be a tad sensitive on that subject. I mean, yes, I know that Susan's going to miss Peter terribly, and that it will be hard for her to say good-bye, but at least she knows ahead of time, and has a chance to say good-bye. _

_It's been over a month, and thinking about that doesn't affect me so much any more. I still think about it sometimes. In particular, when I have my nightmares. _

_By now, the nightmares have turned into pure torture; I can literally feel everything. It's not like a ghost anymore, it's real. I feel it as if I'm awake and conscious. Quite frankly, I'm surprised that when I wake up there aren't any burn marks on my skin, or that there aren't any bruises around my wrists from the vines. _

_Obviously I don't like to endure that, so I've kind of purposely become insomniac. I'm tired nearly all the time, just because I won't allow myself to sleep. Sometimes I find myself drifting off while cooking, or sweeping, or dusting, or something else. Sometimes I can will myself awake, other times, not so much. _

XXXXX

Susan sat in front of her bedroom mirror. It was slightly dirty, and had brown spots arrayed here and there throughout it. In the bottom left-hand corner, it was cracked from a time she had had a tantrum and thrown a hairbrush at it.

Although a bit dirty, and slightly broken, the mirror didn't fail to reflect the amazing beauty of the star's granddaughter. Her bright blue eyes shimmered back at herself, as she added a bit of color to her full lips.

She was definitely her father's daughter, from the portrait she had seen of her parents, the shocking thing was how much she did indeed look like the feminine version of her father, Wilhelm Pevensie.

They both had hair so dark it nearly looked ebony, but in the right light was revealed to be brunette. The major difference between how Susan and her father looked (other than that Susan was definitely a girl, and Wilhelm was definitely a man) was that he had a moustache that would tickle her forehead when he kissed her goodnight.

He was a good father to her, and even Lucy. He loved the girls he called his daughters, he told them stories and tucked them in at night. He was a good man, madly in love with his wife, willing to stand up for what he believed in. There was one thing that Susan knew; her father was a martyr.

Susan brushed through her shiny dark hair before pulling out her cosmetics onto the desk surface; she fished through the pile until she came to what it was she was looking for.

Amongst other cosmetics, there was a tin with a pale powder on the smooth wood surface. She used a soft brush to smooth some of the powder onto her neck to cover up a red blister-like bruise on her skin. She cringed as she looked at it, but smiled a bit as it was covered. She had never gotten such a blatant mark before.

Quite frankly, she felt like she had been branded. She had seen others dragged into prisons, forced to be branded for whatever reason, telling the world of whatever they had done to wrong someone so severely that they were forced to bear a painful reminder of it for the rest of their wretched lives.

Luckily for her, this 'brand' would go away, and wasn't nearly as painful. Actually, she smiled in remembering, she quite enjoyed getting it. Still, she was marked; it was pretty much the same thing.

She finished applying the concealing powder to her neck, and mixing it to blend with the rest of her skin. It looked a little too dark for her skin, so she covered it a little more with a paler powder before deciding that it looked natural.

The night before was so eventful; Susan had a hard time trying to recap it. They were in Peter's bedchamber in Cair Paravel, and she was upset. Honestly, what girl wouldn't be upset, with their beau going to the Lone Islands for a year, in just a matter of days, when it seemed like he just got back from Archenland? It wasn't fair, the fact was that, even though she had found love, Peter had so many responsibilities and obligations, so he was gone most of the time.

"Su," Peter had said, "I'd rather stay here, you know that. But being a knight comes with specific obligations, and one of them is making sure your training's up to scratch. It only comes once every five years."

Susan was still a bit upset, "And if you forget about me? What will happen then?"

Peter pulled Susan into his chest, saying into her neck, "Do you really think it's possible to forget about the Southern Sun?" He paused, running his fingertips up Susan's arm, sending chills down her spine, as they got closer and closer until there wasn't even the slightest gap between them.

Susan was brought back from her thoughts when she heard Lucy stir. Snapping the lid back onto the tin and putting away the other cosmetics, Susan looked at her little sister though the mirror. Lucy was face down on the pillow, arms stretched out above her head; her braid was frizzed out from a night of tossing and turning before sleeping restlessly but was otherwise intact.

"Waking up, Lu?" Susan asked, swiveling in the chair as to face her little sister more.

Yawing, Lucy mumbled something that no one could possibly figure out what she was actually saying, but it seemed like she was saying something along that lines of, 'yes, even though I really, really don't want to.'

"You didn't wake up last night." Susan observed, smoothing her skirts under her hands in her lap.

"I did, actually." Lucy said, sitting up in her bed to stretch out and yawn, "You just weren't back yet."

Susan asked, "Was it the same?" she always went through the routine to give Lucy a chance to explain anything that was on her mind, added to the fact that it just simply turned into routine, it didn't really matter why Susan had first started inquiring about the dreams, it had simply become second nature.

"For the most part. They're getting more vivid, though." The two sisters sat in silence before Lucy added on, "Su? You don't think, perhaps they could be some sort of sign?"

"Well, dreams to tend to be windows into the physiological state of people. I'm guessing, that the fact that there's a fire in it, just plays back into the fire that we had to live through. Since you can't remember it, maybe your mind's trying to re-create what happened." She took a quick breath, she did enjoy sounding smart but this was a field that she didn't know much about, "The other parts, they're probably just something that's on your mind, that you don't realize is, and your brain's trying to figure it out."

"That's not exactly what I meant." Lucy looked at her hands, "Do you think, that maybe Aslan's trying to warn me or something?"

Surprisingly enough, Susan wasn't prepared for that, which was odd, because Lucy was so religious, she should have guessed that Lucy would figure something like that eventually. Susan, while she believed in Aslan's existence, and believed that he still would come into Narnia if Narnia needed him, didn't have so much blind faith in the lion.

"What could he possibly be warning you about?" she decided to say, "I don't see how anything like what happens in your nightmares could happen here."

XXXXX

Normally, Lucy stayed out of Tumnus's old bedroom, even though he wasn't living there anymore. It seemed just like some sort of respect. Although he had packed up most of his belongings, including the portrait of Helen and Wilhelm Pevensie, but he had left a bookcase for Lucy, since she did love to read.

Sitting in a solitary corner of the bedroom, she avidly read a large book that was stationed in her lap. It was old and handwritten cursive letters placed in neat rows on yellowing paper.

It was a book of fairy tales, the original, somewhat dark versions. Amazingly structured versions of these children's tales, aimed for a somewhat older audience.

She had read different versions of these stories before, obviously the one about the little cinder girl she had read other versions hundreds of times. Others, she had only heard a few times, like the one of the imp who made others guess his name, the magic beanstalk, the siblings and the gingerbread house, the princess and the poisoned apple would only name a few.

These fairy tales came from another world originally, the world that humans came from, but over time in Narnia they changed slowly. For example, the boy who went up the beanstalk and had a run-in with a giant had eventually turned into a faun and there was no goose that laid a golden egg (the talking geese found it a bit racist)

These fairy tales were the originals. Only in a few stories there were fauns, centaurs, or the like, and the protagonists were largely humans, and it was a novelty when animals could talk.

There were several that she had never heard of, though. One had a little girl in a red cape who was pestered by a wolf. That one was rather disturbing, and Lucy saw why it never took off in Narnia. There were others that never took off in Narnia, she guessed, because of the scare factor.

There was one about an evil "Snow Queen" and there were too many likenesses to the White Witch for any Narnian in their right mind not to catch. That was rather scary.

Fairy tales didn't scare Lucy, even though in these versions the heroes and heroines often met horrible endings, ultimately good overthrew evil, as Lucy was sure it would be in real life.

After all, Narnia was in peace for the time being, no one had heard from the White Witch herself in nearly a decade and the rebel gangs, while never officially caught, hadn't caused any problems in awhile, most people just figured that with the disappearance of their leader, the gangs gave up and disappeared themselves.

Lucy ran her fingers on the rough paper, before accidentally slicing her finger on the paper. Paper cuts aren't the most painful thing on the face of the world, especially with the torture that her nightmares provided, but they still aren't fun to get.

She covered the cut with part of her skirt and tried to cut off the circulation to stop the bleeding, when she noticed a piece of yellow parchment on the floor, it must have slipped out of the book.

It looked as if it had been folded several times in every which way. Slowly unfolding it, Lucy began to read it. It turned out to be a nearly fourteen-year-old letter from her mother to Tumnus.

Lucy read it, hoping it would jog some memory of her mother, or show her what her mother was like. She read some of it, before her jaw dropped, and she yelled, "Susan! Susan, come here quickly!"

When Susan came through the door, Lucy showed her sister the piece of paper. Susan looked at the letter, scarcely recognizing the handwriting for their mother's.

"_Dear Tumnus,"_ the letter read, _"I hope you're well. As far as things are going for me, well, they've gone better. Which is the main reason I'm writing you. First, though, I'm going to fill you in on my daughter. Susan's nearly three now, as you're most likely aware, and she's doing very well. I don't mean to brag, but being the child's mother I feel like I have a license to. She's extremely smart for her age. She can already write her name in both Old and Modern Narnian. It's rather funny though, often she mixes up letters, or writes her first name in Old Narnian and then her surname in Modern Narnian or vice versa. But I supposed I shouldn't be complaining, she's already about a year ahead of most children. I am, in fact, very proud of my little girl."_

As Susan read her mother boast about her, at such a young age for doing something as simple as writing her name, she felt something very much like a little bit of pride swell up inside her. It was a small, old, and dusty bit of pride, but it was there. She read on.

"_I wish I could say that things are all right for Wilhelm and I, but, that would be lying, and you know that I don't like to lie. I've recently discovered that I'm pregnant. For a while I couldn't think of how to tell Will, and I wish that I didn't tell him when I did. _

"_Because of the timing, he's well aware that the new baby won't be his. Naturally, he's upset at me. Actually, upset would be putting it lightly. He's completely furious with me. I can understand why, I mean, if Will had another wife and another child, I would be angry with him. I suppose it's selfish for me to complain. After all, he's going to stay married to me, which seems right out of a dream, in my situation, don't you think? _

"_He isn't sleeping in our room at the moment, and supper is dreadfully somber, even little Susan notices. I've apologized to Will nearly a thousand times, but he's still angry with me. He says to me, 'Helen,' he says, 'I love you, but do you not take our marriage seriously enough to have my children and my children only?' That stings me, you know. He talks as if he doubts that I love him. I do love him, I've loved him since I was fourteen. What my horrible impulses lead me to do, it's has nothing to do with him. It's all about me. _

"_At least there's no question of Susan being his. He asked me that once he discovered of my pregnancy, and after figuring out for himself that the new child won't be his, that truly cut me. I feel like he thinks that he's married to a whore, when that isn't true. _

"_You know that._

"_Not that I think that shallow bribery will win Will over, I'm going to spend all day cooking him an 'I'm sorry' supper and I'm going to pull out the wine we had at our wedding out of the cellar. I pray to the Lion that he'll begin to forgive me. _

"_Now, on to the reason that I'm writing you on this, my friend. You are just as much Wilhelm's friend as you are mine, if I am not mistaken. I was wondering if you could come by the house someday and perhaps take Will out for a time away from Susan and me. I don't think he'll ever begin to forgive me if he sees my face every day. _

_"All my thoughts, Helen Pevensie"_

XXXXX

_Have you ever had an assumption that really was horrible, and then you realized that it was true? _

_I've had that. _

_Recently, actually. My mother confirmed it. _

_Here I thought dead women didn't tell tales._

_I've had the feeling that I wasn't my dad's child. That's what I referred my Secret to, the feeling and clues that I was fatherless. _

_I didn't tell people, because I didn't want rumors to start. Now, I suppose that the horrible thing would be that it's true._

_I, Lucy Pevensie, am a…well, I'm not going to use the real word. Being fatherless doesn't give me the right to throw around words that start with 'b' and end in 'astard' even if it is what I am. _

_Yes, it's what I am. But, I do realize, that it's not who I am. _

_Despite the feelings of this discovery, at the end of the day, I'm still the same Lucy, aren't I? My dad had treated me like a daughter, I do remember that much, so why should it matter if I don't have any of his blood running through my veins? _

_I know it shouldn't matter, but for some reason, it does. _

**A/N: ....so...erm....what did you think?**


	7. All I've Got

**A/N: Check out my channel for the cover page and a fan video of this fanfiction! The video contains mild spoilers, but also includes a mention of a subplot I decided to drop so, I guess you won't know what's the spoiler and what's the dropped subplot.**

_I wonder if Peter's on the islands by now. I'm not really sure about how long it takes to get from Cair Paravel to whichever of the Lone Islands the knights are training on, never having left the mainland myself._

_It's really affecting Susan. The minute she got back from the docks, she went to lie down, complaining about an unsettled stomach. _

_I've decided to finish cooking supper for us, even though I don't think Susan would be able to keep it down. I can almost hear he vomiting up the stairs. Or maybe that's just my imagination. _

_She's been sick all the time ever since he left, she's barely eaten anything in weeks, and spends most of her time with her face in a bucket, vomiting anything she eats out almost instantly. Not to mention she's been rather moody. _

_I think that her being sick and moody has to do with Peter's leaving. I guess that missing somebody can really take a toll on you. _

_Thinking about missing somebody triggers something in my brain, and I can't help but think about Edmund. _

_I try not to think about him. I really do. Mostly because whenever I think about him, I miss him. It's hard not to think about someone when their blurred out figure appears in your nightmares every time you go to sleep. _

_With my imagination, I picture a scene in the pot of meaty soup that I'm stirring. _

_In this scene, I'm standing in the center of a large crowd. It's hot, I imagine, a beet red sun beating on my forehead—or maybe that's a real beet floating into the center of the pot, where I see this all happening. It's loud and crowded, I can hear everyone chattering to the rest of the faceless people, almost, but it's really just the bubbling noise of the pot at a boil. _

_The crowd begins to disperse, maybe it's just the vegetables and meats scurrying to the edges of the pot as I stir it, revealing Edmund, coming up to me. _

_He tells me the magical reason that he had to go, one unheard by my living ears, but my imaginary ears hear just fine. _

_I stare at him and he stares back. It has an eerie sense of familiarity to it. Almost like déjà vu. _

_I shift my mind back to the pot of boiling broth and swimming meats and vegetables, stirring it with a large wooden spoon. _

_I inhale the meaty aroma of the soup, and pour myself a bowl. As I blow on the spoon, I hear the song of a non-talking lark. Right after it, as if on cue, I hear the sounds of Susan loudly __vomiting. _

XXXXXX

Susan continued to be sick for nearly a week; eventually she decided to see a physician about it. She hadn't eaten anything odd in a while, but almost anything she ate made her vomit. She was also late that month, and couldn't think of why. There was one explanation, but it never seemed like it was possible to happen to her. Girls were late all the time; it didn't mean anything.

Or that's at least what she kept on telling herself.

She walked down the porcelain stone hallways in the castle. Although she was sick, she wasn't exempt from her duties in the court. She had to attend a rather boring sport match between the prince and a lord of the castle, when that was over Susan was free to go to the physician.

There was a certain old Labrador bitch that was a certified doctor for the court. Of course, there were other doctors, but the old dog was known for being around awhile and knew a lot about things that many others did not; Susan figured she could ask her about Lucy's nightmares. Perhaps she'd know what sort of mental issue was going on in Lucy's head.

She was going to ask, but she forgot all of her other thoughts. When Susan stepped into the physician's room, "Excuse me?" she asked, "I was wondering if you could help me out?

Within a second, the large dog with a shiny black coat and old brown eyes was able to diagnose Susan.

The bitch could smell it on her.

Did that mean that the other talking animals could smell it too? How many knew before her? Did they tell people things? She was curious as to how much others knew, and how much time she had left to keep her honor.

She felt scared, confused, bewildered and sick in an entirely different way than before when she set for home.

As she trudged home, she thought about when Peter left for the Lone Islands. Although it was a sunny and warm day, Narnia might as well have been having a hurricane if the weather would reflect how Susan had felt.

Besides feeling like she had to vomit, her heart ached for not being able to see Peter again for another year, and she was already missing him. She had to close her eyes tightly to stop from crying as they held each other in their arms for one last time before he had to leave.

A year, that seemed so long, so far away. Susan wasn't ready when Peter pulled away from their embrace. Trying to hide her tears, Susan said, "I'll write you as much as I can," sounding so much like a little girl trying to act grown up, as opposed to the young woman she was.

After kissing her, Peter said, "I'll be waiting for the mail."

Not wanting to blubber on like an idiot, Susan took out her fan made of silk and lace and began to cool herself out with it.

"I might be able to request leave," Peter said, after a moment of silence, "I might be able to come halfway through for awhile, we won't be apart for very long, word of honor."

They continued with their goodbyes, before Peter said goodbye to Lucy, giving her a quick hug, and saying, "Try not to let your curiosity get the better of you while I'm gone. I won't be able to come and help you the next time you think you see a goblin in the pond again."

"That was a grindylow!" Lucy said, smiling, before sobering up and saying goodbye.

"Same story, different versions." Peter said back, smiling, before turning to Susan. He kissed her goodbye, before having to board the ship.

The sisters stood in the thick crowd all of the knight's loved ones, waving off a ship that they would all be counting the days until it's return.

When Susan arrived back at her home from the doctor's, she found that Lucy wasn't there. Good, she thought, I'll have time to think of something.

She took a seat on the floor by the empty fireplace, like a small child, she was going to think things through and compose a plan. Still the first order of business was to feel sorry for herself.

She finally allowed herself to cry. She hated to cry in front of others, she felt like it showed a disgraceful weakness.

Tears flowing down her face, and she couldn't get them to stop. Her beautiful face looked red and puffy. Her mouth filled with sticky saliva, as tears fell past and leaked into her lips. She sniffed as she continued to bawl, her nose was running furiously.

Why was it that dear Lucy got nothing but good qualities from their mother? Her capacity to trust, her kindness, faithfulness, and loving bravery. Susan managed to get saddled with the bad qualities from her mother. Arrogance, not exactly being a strategist, which went hand-in-hand with their less than holy impulses that they acted on, not realizing the similar repercussion that could happen.

After Susan cried herself out of tears, she pulled out a map of Narnia, and tried to organize a plan. She didn't really have anything in particular in mind, but she knew she had to make a plan.

She knew she had to make a plan, and make one quick. The clock was ticking.

XXXXXXXX

When Lucy came home that night, and noticed that her sister had been crying. Susan's eyes were red and puffy as she sat in one of the chairs with a large map of the country flat on the table, tracing a path on it with her index finger.

Lucy took a seat in the chair next to her sister. She noticed the redness of Susan's eyes and softly asked, "What happened?"

Susan, looking smaller than she was, said slowly, as if she thought that if she said it slow enough and quietly enough, it would turn out to be a dream and it would all go away, "I'm pregnant."

Lucy let her jaw drop but stayed silent, and Susan went on, "I'm about a month or two in, which means I have another month before…" she paused, "I start showing."

Lucy was still processing it all. Her sister was going to have a baby? To be frank, she didn't even know Susan and Peter were that serious with each other. She knew they were in love, but not that they were physical. She blinked, and asked, "Then what?"

"I'm not quite sure." Susan said, "I can't stay in court is all I know. Once I start showing, people will know, and they'll start talking. I can't put Peter's honor in jeopardy."

Lucy shook her head softly; "I wonder what Aslan thinks when people get so mean with each other."

Suddenly turning cross at her sister, most likely from the lack of food and life changing news she had just gotten dumped on her, Susan snapped, "Oh, will you take your face out of the Lion's mane for one second and help me think?" Seeing her little sister jolt backwards, with a somewhat hurt expression on her face, Susan softened up, "It's just that it doesn't help my situation."

Lucy knew that Susan wasn't nearly as religious as she was, but it did hurt her feelings a bit to have her older sister snap at her like that. Regardless, she looked at Susan and said, "Do you have any idea of what you'll do?"

"That's what I have the map out for. I'm trying to figure out the most direct route to Tumnus's house. I think he might be gracious enough to take me in, even without you there."

Wrinkling her eyebrow, Lucy asked, "What do you mean?"

"You and I both know that Tumnus has always been more fond of you. I suppose you remind him of Mum."

Not seeing what that had to do with anything, Lucy decided to leave it, and asked, "So, you're just going to leave Cair Paravel, until the baby's born?"

"Or, more likely, forever." Lucy looked confused and Susan went on, "Well, I doubt I'll ever get married, so returning to the Cair wouldn't be all that good of an idea."

"You don't think Peter will marry you?" Lucy asked, sitting up straighter in her chair, perhaps it was bad to think this, and she surely felt bad about it after, but it made her wonder if the baby was Peter's.

"Well, it will put a burden on his shoulders, won't it? Why stay when he's free to go? He's not forced to carry his child for nine months."

"I don't think Peter's that kind of person." Lucy said, a bit astonished by the fact that Susan doubted that Peter would care for his child. If Peter was so in love with Susan that their relationship was strong enough to be physical about it, wouldn't he stick around and take care of his child?

"Well, it doesn't matter," Susan began talking fast, "I only have a month before I start to show, people figure out what Peter and I did, we both get kicked out of court, and excuse me if I'm emotional, but darn it, I'm pregnant!"

Lucy did think that Susan was being a little emotional, but she didn't know what she would act like if she were pregnant, so she had to excuse this thought. She sighed, "So, when are we going?"

"'We?'" Susan looked at Lucy as if she had an extra arm growing out of her head, "You're not coming with me."

XXXXXX

_I'm going with her. She won't have a choice; I have to go with her. _

_I don't think that she'll be able to make it across the country all alone and pregnant. I know that it only takes a few days to make it across Narnia if you move quickly, but when you're pregnant, you'll most likely move more slowly. I think it might be dangerous to go all alone. _

_Besides, we've never really lived apart before. When our parents were alive, obviously we've lived together, and afterward, we've lived together. I've never slept in a room without her on the other end. _

_She's my sister and I don't want to see her go through something like this alone. I don't think that anyone should go through this alone._

_I'm definitely going with her. She has to let me come. I don't want to be brutally honest, but I know she won't be able to go. Not to mention, I'll miss her too much if she leaves._

_Like I've said before, she's my sister and she's all I've got. _

**A/N: I've been dreading this chapter ever since this story was still in the works. So, how'd I do? *flinches and it ready to be attacked***


	8. Goodbye, Cair Paravel

_It's hard to believe it's been nearly a month since Susan's told me she's pregnant. It just passed by so quickly. _

_It didn't take long to get Susan to admit that it would be a good idea to let me come along. She's such a practical person for the most part; it only took a few days before she realized that it would be a good idea to have a traveling companion. _

_We've gone over the route so many times I could tell it to you backwards and in my sleep. Speaking of which, once Susan and I started to put our minds on the route we're going to travel, my nightmares have come to an abrupt stop. _

_I'm not saying that I miss the horrible nightmares, but it's kind of bittersweet. I'm happy to say good riddance to the nightmares and the pain, but in the same respect I miss seeing you-know-who. _

_Anyway, back to the plan. _

_We're going to stick to the river for the most part; on a boat that we bought with some money that Susan's been keeping aside in case of emergency from this nice man named Drinian._

_We'll sail, stopping at a town or two, until we get to the waterfall and then we'll hike through the Shuddering Woods, cross the Telmar river, then cross the Western Woods and go north until we reach Tumnus's house._

_We expect that it will take a few days, maybe two weeks tops. Hopefully it won't take any longer than that. The way we planned it, Susan won't get too many cravings, or get too uncomfortable until after we reach Lantern Waste._

_Of course, plans have a way of going awry; especially when you try and make it was flawless as possible._

_I'll just have to have faith that things are going to work out for the best._

_The time that we'll have to leave is coming up really soon. We've gotten someone to take care of the house, and to sell it if anyone's interested in it._

_That makes me feel kind of sad, I mean, this was Tumnus's house, and I've always felt like we were just living in it, as guests. Of course, Tumnus had given the house to us when he left; it just feels weird selling it._

_Susan's come to accept the fact that I'm coming with her. She realized after she had gotten more used to the idea of having a baby that it would be nearly impossible to travel across the country all alone._

_She's going to take care of things in court, I think she's going to say that Tumnus is sick and that we need to move, or something like that. I don't know how she can just blatantly lie to the other courtiers like that; it's beyond me._

_Right now, we're shopping for things to take on the journey. We have to pack light; after all, we're going to have to carry everything on our backs through the hike through the Shuddering Woods. Still, it won't be a very long hike, if things go as planned._

_I wonder what Lantern Waste is going to be like? Edmund said it was rural, but otherwise hard to describe…_

_Drat. I'm thinking about him again, aren't I? I've managed not to for quite a while. It's been causing a lot less confusion in my life, while Susan and I have been trying to figure out a path to run away, and I've been conflicted with what I learned about my mum. Wondering about Edmund and why he left without a goodbye just adds another confusion to my life that I really don't need right now, I can wonder about it later._

_Then again, I am going to Lantern Waste now, so maybe I'll see him again. Oh well, I guess I just need to let things fall into their rightful places._

_XXXXXX_

Susan was going to write Peter a letter to explain what they had gotten themselves into, but couldn't find a way to put it out into words. It was, as she had called it, the letter of Shame. It was a rather embarrassing thing to put into words, what was she supposed to say?

She decided to procrastinate on it, wait until she got to Tumnus's, so if Peter wanted to leave the Lone Islands for her, there wouldn't be much reason for him to leave. Of course, when that man got it into his head that he was going to do something, he was going to do it.

Of course, there was the other possibility. What if he didn't want anything to do with Susan once he learned about her pregnancy? Of course, that didn't seem like something Peter would do, but Susan wasn't going to sit around and let that option fester in her mind.

It was all too confusing. There was no sense in looking too far ahead, she just needed to focus on the plan to get to Tumnus's house, and then she could start to think about how to tell Peter. Take it one baby-step at a time, no pun intended.

She finished placing everything she needed into her leather knapsack. She had a quilt, a needle and thread, her map, and bland dried food.

She didn't want to pack too much, but she decided to bring along her bow and arrows, aside from pure entertainment, it might be useful if they run into any thieves, gypsies, or the like on the trip. However low the likelihood of that happening was, it was good to have it around just in case.

She latched the knapsack shut, and put it on her bed. The room was primarily cleaned out, so that whoever was going to take the house would have it ready for them to move in whenever they chose.

Looking over to Lucy who was also packing up, Susan noticed that Lucy was debating on certain things to put in, "What do you think?" Lucy asked, "Should I take the book of fairy tales, or my violin?"

"It's not very practical to take either," Susan said, "we're going to have to carry everything on our backs, remember?"

"Yes, I know," Lucy said, looking at the book and instrument with a perplexed expression on her face, "but I'd like to take something impractical, for fun, once we're there and all. The violin would seem like the most useful thing to take…"

"So then take the violin," Susan said, casting a sidewise glance into the mirror, she had been wearing looser gowns to try and hide her pregnancy; she gripped the back of it to tighten the gown, revealing the protruding the three-month pregnant belly.

"Well, that was what I was originally going to do," Lucy looked at her sister, before turning again back to the book and violin, "but I've just got this feeling that it would be a better idea to take the fairy tales."

"Are you sure you've got enough room in your sack? I'm sure there are violins and books in Lantern Waste."

"Well, I just have some money, a blanket, and matches in mine. I definitely have enough room for the book…I think I should go with that one…yes, I think I will." Happy that she finally reached a decision, Lucy packed up the last of her things, before her face grew solemn. "So, this is it, isn't it?" she said, "We'll never see this house again?"

"You know, you still don't have to come with me. We can turn everything around again, and I can just go on my own." Susan said, placing her knapsack on her shoulder.

"I'm all right." Lucy said, copying her sister and strapping the knapsack over her back, "it's just that I've gotten a little attached to this place, is all."

Susan took Lucy's hand, "I'll be waiting outside, say goodbye to this place if you'd like."

Lucy took what her sister said, dwelled in the room a little bit longer, soaked in the memory of what it looked like, the room she and her sister had been sleeping in for the past eight years.

She paused, how long that all seems, she thought, it doesn't seem like Su and I have lived here that long.

After thinking, she proceeded to try and memorize the rest of the house. She ran her fingers along the rough stone walls, feeling the bumps and ridges. She walked through every room, memorizing everything down to the last nook and cranny.

It was getting dark, Lucy noticed when she looked out the window. Running her hand in the cold ashes of the fireplace that had cooked her food more times than she could count, had warmed herself on so often, before she stood at the door, her sooty fingers on the latch.

Stepping out the door, she finally took one last glance in the cool, dark, and earthy sitting room, to memorize the last of it, down to the non-talking mouse that scurried across the floor in the kitchen.

XXXXXXXXX

On the outskirts of Cair Paravel, the two sisters were no more than silhouettes boarding a small fishing boat. Susan clambered onto it first, her hand running along the chipped blue paint. Lucy followed suit, but didn't touch the boat, as her fingers were still sooty and she didn't want to dirty the old boat any more than she had to.

Susan had gone below deck to put her bag away and put her quilt over the large mattress that was stationed on the lower deck for the girls to sleep on. Lucy stayed on deck for a moment, watching the way the moon reflected off of the water in a rippling milky white line on the black surface.

"Ready to go?" Susan's voice sounded from behind her, making her jump, "Are you sure you want to leave?"

Lucy merely nodded, the answers to her sisters questions were both no and yes. No, she wasn't ready to leave Cair Paravel, who's ever ready to leave their home? Yes, she wanted to go, she was staying with her sister.

"Let's go." She said, stepping to the bow of the boat to untie the rope that kept them attached the dock, attached to Cair Paravel, attached to their old lives.

Susan stepped forward and cut the rope herself with a knife, "I found it down below." She said, "come on, let's get some sleep. The river should take us on the right path."

They began their journey then, as they began to move on the glasslike water. Before disappearing under the deck, Lucy shot one last look at the shimmering Narnia capitol.

XXXXXX

_Although I wasn't apart of the royal court, and I didn't take part in the feasts, and balls, and whatever else went on there, Cair Paravel was home to me. _

_I'll miss it, for sure. I'll miss seeing the Eastern Sea every day, I'll miss looking at the ivory palace standing proud and scraping the skies. I'll miss the coolness of the gardens early in the morning and late at night. I'll even miss the rudeness of some of the courtiers, as well as the friendliness of some of them. _

_I'll miss everything. _

_Goodbye, Cair Paravel, Narnian capitol and, for eight years, my home. Goodbye._

_And now, onward to the West. _

**A/N: These chapters are so much longer when you write them down longhand in a tiny little notebook before you type it up…. **


	9. What Big Eyes You Have

**A/N: I wrote this at 2 am so hopefully word flow's fine and all that. This is also meant to be a somewhat scary chapter…be forewarned. **

_The lower deck of the fishing boat is small and smells like old fish. It's dimly lit; most of the light comes from the upper deck anyway, and has a large mattress that takes up most of the floor. It's not the most comfortable situations to live in, but it's only for a week or so, after all, I'll be able to make myself comfortable._

_Susan says that the stench of the fish is going to make her sick if the river gets too rough, and I hope not. I won't say it, of course, but I don't think that I'd be able to keep my own lunch down if the smell of fresh vomit accompanies that of dead fish. _

_I'm trying to get to sleep, but the mattress is so hard. I'm certain it's made of straw, since I can feel it poke my back through the material of the mattress. _

_Susan's taken most of the quilt too, not that I'm particularly cold, actually I'm rather warm, but there's something that just seems comforting about the patchwork sheet, and I wish it was over me a bit more than it was. _

_I want to sleep, but I can't. I toss and turn every time I try to rest my head. So, I take the book of fairy tales that I brought along and start to read in the moonlight. I begin to read, 'Once upon a time…' _

_I only get through three stories before I begin to get tired, I should really get to sleep. I feel the boat sway below me. _

_I put away the large leather bound book and lay myself on the poky mattress; I feel my eyelids get heavy, and I start to feel myself fall asleep to the soft feeling of the fishing boat going down the river._

XXXXXXXXX

Susan didn't fall asleep quickly. In fact, she stayed awake for almost an hour. She was thinking about her pregnancy. She had six more months to go before she was a mother.

She was going to be responsible for another human life, for the rest of their life.

The idea of being someone's mother ran through her mind. After carrying the baby in herself for nine month, she was going to have to go through the painful experience known as childbirth.

After the baby was born, she was going to have to be the primary caregiver of another human being for another eighteen years, until she or he was an adult.

Worries began swarming in her mind, what if the baby wouldn't eat? Or got sick? What if she turned out to be a horrible single-mother for her entire life?What if she failed?

She shook the worries from her head; there was no sense in worrying what would happen in sixteen years, or even in nine months. Right now, the important part was to get to Tumnus's house. After that, she could focus more on the pregnancy, then on the baby's life through his or her infancy.

Like she often told herself, take it one step at a time. She couldn't have headaches about things that she had no control over.

She turned over on the mattress, wrapped in the quilt, the thought crossed her mind that she might be hogging the quilt too much and Lucy might be deprived of the blanket, but it was warm that night. Perhaps Lucy wouldn't need it. Either way, by the time that thought crossed Susan's mind she was nearly asleep.

XXXXXXXXX

Lucy's eyes shot open as she inhaled the dry air. The stability of the ground she was on provided certainty that she wasn't on the boat anymore. Still, she didn't know exactly where she was. She wrinkled her brow as she slowly stood up; the air smelled like parchment and wet ink.

Somehow, she could tell that she wasn't awake. Her senses were heightened when she slept, she didn't know why, but they were, she could both smell the wet ink from her current surroundings, but it had a slight overtone of dead fish to it. She could tell that she was dreaming.

Dreaming, she thought, or having another nightmare. Then she thought that it was positively awful that she always had to assume that all her dreams would turn into nightmares. Why should they? Perhaps she would get lucky and this would just turn out to be a pleasant dream.

As she stepped forward, Lucy felt the ground slightly sink beneath her feet, as if she were standing on a stack of paper. Looking around, it seemed as if she were in an endless room with no walls or ceilings, it was the yellowed color and papery texture of parchment going on and on for miles. Only, there were black puddles sitting every which way, lined up next to each other, each very narrow following what seemed to be an intricate pattern.

She walked on, only to find herself stepping into one of those black puddles. She immediately lifted her foot, to find that the puddle was sticky. "It's ink." She whispered to herself, smelling the strong odor as she examined the sticky liquid on her shoe.

Backing up, Lucy realized that the ink puddles were actually words. She backed up enough to get a good look at the word she had stepped in, but not enough to step into the words behind her. When she stepped back she saw the words, TABLE OF CONTENTS written in curvy, boldfaced, capital letters.

Was she in her book? She guessed that she was, it made sense as far as dream sense was concerned. If she were in her book, it would explain the ink, parchment, and table of contents. How would she get out, though? Would she just have to sit here and wait until she woke up? She figured she should look around, there wasn't much to look at, and she had to mind her step, to stop from smudging any more of the words, but maybe there would be some sort of clue as to how to get out of that page.

Looking forward, she saw the titles of the stories in her fairy tale book, in capital, boldfaced letters that would probably be taller than her if they stood up straight opposed to lying flat on the page. When she got closer to the title that read LITTLE RED RIDING CAPE she noticed something off about the letters. It looked like, inside them, something was moving.

Squatting down next to the large title, Lucy looked into the large 'L' to see Little Red clambering into the bed with the wolf, cape thrown down on the floor.

It looked as if it were actually happening, as if she were spying through a window in the ceiling. It looked as if she decided to jump in the letters she would fall down into the scene and find herself in Little Red's granny's bedroom, next to Little Red herself and in the lap of the wolf.

Lucy averted her eyes, knowing what happened next in the tale, before looking back again, to

see the wolf lying on the granny's bed, bloated and smacking his chops. Lucy felt a little sorry for Little Red and her granny. She saw Little Red before her very eyes and it seemed so much more real than when it was simply happening in her mind's eye.

She took one last look at the gluttonous wolf, before she went to the next title, curious if it would have the same effect.

Sure enough, Hansel and Grethel were wandering through the large and eerie forest, complaining about their empty bellies to one another, until they came across the house made entirely of gingerbread. Their faces lit up as if it were Christmas day, as they began to stuff their faces with the shingles and shutters of the candy house.

Lucy sat through most of that tale, seeing as it wasn't as violent as others, before going to the next one, Little Briar-Rose, which she watched until the prince came. In lighter versions, she liked watching the prince wake Briar-Rose with a kiss, but as it happened, the version in that book wasn't nearly as romantic, and quite a bit more violent.

When the prince did come in, Lucy stood up, and pivoted to leave, but her heel had accidentally seeped into the ink, and sent it splattering into the scene, leaving the prince and sleeping princess with ink splattered across their faces.

Lucy didn't notice that, mostly because she was already watching another fairy tale. The Little Cinder Girl was next, and what fun it was to watch the bird throw down the gown and golden slippers! She enjoyed watching that one, for the most part.

She had gone down the list, watching most of the fairy tales, though rarely to the end. The originals were great to read, she had no desire to watch the wicked stepsisters cut off their toes, or have their eyes pecked out by birds, or even to see Grethel shove the horrible witch into the oven. Those were sights that Lucy censored in her own mind, and would not care to see with her eyes as if it were happening in front of her.

She thought she was at the end when she averted her eyes as Snow White's wicked stepmother placed her petite feet into the iron shoes, heated above a fire. When she looked up, she was surprised to see that there were indeed more stories left.

Lucy went through her memory; sure that Snow White was the last fairy tale in the book. She named them all in order, and sure enough, that tale was at the end of the list, it started with Little Red Riding Cape and ended with Snow White

Moved by curiosity, Lucy took several steps back and read the other titles, one was the index, but the other was scripted in the same curvy font as, "THE WAY OUT"

Not sure if that literally meant the way out, for her, so that she could wake up again, or if that was yet another fairy tale, one that she wasn't familiar with, she knelt down by the title, and found that it didn't have a scene running below it.

As if she knew what she was supposed to do, Lucy stuck her hand into the ink, to find that it went through. When she moved her hand back up to where she was, she found it completely dry.

Though Lucy was a naturally curious girl, she wouldn't normally go diving into letters in books that seemed to be portals. Then again, the opportunity never arose in her real life. Still, she figured, this is a dream. What's the worst thing that could happen?

She didn't remember jumping in, but the next thing she found was that she was standing barefoot in an old building, the kind that people would sometimes keep the non-talking horses and cattle in.

"Lucy." A whispery voice said in her ear.

"Yes?" She pivoted around herself to try and see who was there, but she was all alone.

"Lucy Pevensie." Even with those two whispery words, Lucy could tell that whoever the voice belonged to was a wicked person. She hated the voice and wished to be away from it. Yet, it continued on, "Do you wish to know the meaning of your dreams?"

She didn't know what to say, yes, she wanted to know what her dreams were about, but not from a voice as wicked as that. She kept her mouth shut.

The voice sniggered, "You don't want to know from me, eh?"

"No, I don't." She said, still looking around herself in a paranoid way.

"Suit yourself." The voice was hard to pin, but seemed to be female, like the whisper of an old crone about to die, where it was coming from, that was impossible to figure out, "Just be aware that you dream of your past and future."

Lucy half wanted to ask the horrible voice to elaborate, but more so wanted to be away from it, back on the boat, back on the hard mattress next to her older sister. "Go away!" she screamed, "Leave me alone!"

She heard a whispery laugh, no, it was a horrible cackle. Afterward, she felt completely alone. Being solitary never felt so good.

Yet, it wasn't a complete victory. She still had an unexplainable feeling that something awful was about to happen.

She walked toward a high, cobwebbed stall. When she looked inside, her eyes grew enormous as she scrambled backward. Inside the stall, was the cobweb-plagued skeleton of a centaur.

She backed up into another stall, and found herself face to face with the corpse of a female faun, maggots eating away at the rotten flesh.

Screaming, Lucy stepped back into the aisle, between the old skeleton of the centaur, and the rotting faun. Tears began to burn at her eyes, she didn't know where to go, when she heard a distressed whiney of a horse.

Cautiously walking to the far stall in the barn, and saw a large dun stallion chained to the wall. "Oh no, are you all right?" Lucy asked the poor animal, when the horse simply whinnied in response, Lucy said, "You can't talk can you?"

The horse whinnied again, in distress and shook his head, Lucy jumped back, already on edge from the experiences so far.

"But…can you understand me?" Lucy asked, raising an eyebrow.

The horse nodded, and Lucy stepped into the foul smelling stall, "It's going to be fine," she said, her compassionate side showing; she always had a soft spot for animals, the poor beast was in pain, and it was up to her to save it.

"I'm going to save you, don't worry…it's going to be all right." She repeated, trying to break the rusty chain. A few sharp yanks and the chain severed, Lucy expected the horse to get up and run away, instead it just laid down.

"What's the matter with you?" Lucy asked, used to animals being able to respond to her, the horse whinnied again. Trying to comfort the animal, but not quite sure if this was simply a dumb horse, with the mind of an animal, or a talking horse that had been deprived of it's voice, she said, "There, there. It's all right, you're going to be fine." Biting her lip, Lucy tried the approach that people would use on non-talking animals, "What a pretty horse you are."

Placing her hand on the horse's head, she let it drag behind it's ear, "What big ears you have,"

She let her hand drift against the coat until it rested by it's eye, "What big eyes you have,"

As her hand drifted downward to pet the horse's mouth, she began, "And such a pretty, pretty mouth…argh!"

As she pulled her hand away from the horse's lips, she found a sticky spider web stuck to her hand. She tried to shake it off as she leaned back. When she tried to pull it off her hand with her other hand it stuck to her whole arm. She scrambled back on her bum, trying to take the spider web off of herself, but only getting enveloped in it entirely.

As she backed up, she found that the horse had gotten up and was walking towards her. When she was entirely wrapped in the sticky spider web, the horse reared onto it's hind legs, and the last thing Lucy saw was the inside of the horse's throat.

_XXXXXXXX_

_I woke up crying after that._

_That was definitely the most bizarre nightmare I've ever had. _

_I can't believe I had a nightmare that a horse ate me. I've always trusted animals, and they're normally the most trustworthy things that I've ever met. But tonight I've had a nightmare that a horse ate me. I don't even know if it was a talking horse or not. _

_It was one of the worst nightmares I've ever had. It started out so pleasant, but then took a turn for the worst. _

_The skeleton of the centaur, the rotting faun, it was simply horrific. _

_Not to mention the voice. That voice, it just made me shudder. It was so…cold and so wicked. And it whispered in my ear. I've never felt so far away from Aslan as I did tonight. _

_It was awful. _

_The worst part about it, though, is that I remember what it said. _

_I dream of my past and future. _

_I don't want to even begin go think about it in depth, so I won't. I won't listen to such a wicked voice, it was too horrible. _

_If someone good tells me about it, I'll listen and I'll think about it, but I will not listen to the voice of evil. I won't._

_I refuse. _

**A/N: Coughcough. I'll explain in later chapters. For now, please review! **


	10. Gypsies

**A/N: Oh my gosh! Guess what? This is the longest chapter I've ever written longhand in a notebook! My handwriting was so pretty too...oh, well, on with the story....**

_When I wake up this morning, Susan is already on the upper deck. When I come up and say good morning she doesn't ask if I had a nightmare last night, and I don't tell her. She's obviously got something else on her mind, and I've got enough tact not to bring the focus to me._

_She's got a lot to think about, after all. _

_As we have breakfast, we decide to set up a camp every evening on shore. We figure that even though it might take longer to actually get to Tumnus's, it will be more comfortable sleeping on dry land, without the stench of fish or the rise and fall of the river to bother us._

_Speaking of the river, it's moving really slowly, and even with a day and night behind us on the river, we're not even to the Fords of Beruna yet. _

_I suppose I was just expecting it to all go much quicker than it actually is. _

_Susan and I talk to pass the time. We talk about certain towns and cities we could possibly stop at when we come to them. Maybe spend the night at an inn, or even just stop by to eat something other than the dried things we've packed. _

_When originally planning, we decided that we'd stop in the town of Beruna and then the city of Beaversdam but with the trip seemingly taking longer than we planned, we wonder if we can stop in another one, or if we should take one out for time. _

_She traces her finger along the map, before it stops just east of Dancing Lawn. We both pause, looking at the map, and then up to each other. I gently ask, "Do you think it's in ruins, or they built something over it?" _

_The idea of people building over the town that Susan and I used to call home, before it was burnt to the ground, was unsettling to me. I half wanted to make a detour there, to see what had come of my old town, half hoping that people restored it, or there would be a memorial or something for all the people that died in the fire. The other half of me wanted to stay as far away from that area as possible, not wanting to be disappointed if people simply built over it, without a thought to all those people who died. _

_I don't remember anything about the town, so it's not that it has much sentimental value to me, it's merely curiosity. _

_We directed our attention from that, deciding that it might be best just to stick with the original plan, no matter that it might take longer than we originally expected, it isn't as if it will take so long that Susan will give birth before we reach Tumnus's house, Narnia isn't that big. _

_We spend the entire day on the fishing boat. I kind of wish I had chosen to bring my violin instead of the book, it would've provided a bit of entertainment for both of us. _

_I ask Susan if she'd like me to read a fairy tale to her. She declines, never being one for fairy tales herself. I've memorized pretty much every fairy tale in that book and, added to seeing them like a play in front of my eyes last night, I really don't want to read them to myself._

_Instead I make a game of looking around. I see a tree, and try to think what else it reminds me of. Before long, I can see that it looks kind of like a fat giant with a tiny head. I go on with this, and find other ways to entertain myself before I realize that the sun's lowering in the sky, and that Susan probably needs help directing the boat to the shoreline._

_We set up a crude camp, moving the mattress out of the lower deck; it still reeks of rotting fish. We quickly dig out a pit to make a fire to keep us warm tonight, but we don't have anything to burn._

_We look around for firewood, walking through a crop of trees where we find ourselves walking into a campsite of gypsies._

_They've come towards their uninvited guests, my sister and I. They don't look friendly, to say the 's so many of them, too. While most of the group is made up of humans, there are also several animals and other creatures; at first glance I can see two fauns, a minotaur, and even a gryphon._

_Susan quickly fits an arrow to her bow, and points it into the bulk of the group coming to circle around us. I feel rather helpless, somewhat of a liability to my elder sister, who can still defend herself even though she's pregnant. I have nothing to defend myself with, nor do I really know how._

_At the head of the group, there's a boy that looks quite a bit older than me, his coloring and bone structure make me think he's a Telmarine, and he's got a crossbow pointed directly at Susan._

XXXXX

"You'll want to put that down." The Telmarine said, looking at Susan.

Susan kept her mouth tight, and arrow pointed at him, "And why would I want to do that?"

"First off," he said, through his heavy accent, "this is only for defense, you're the one who pulled your bow on me first, if you'll recall. And second, you're way outnumbered." He then motioned around them to show the two girls that the gypsies had circled around them entirely.

Susan reluctantly lowered her weapon, knowing that the chance of one or two girls winning a fight against twelve or so people wouldn't work in her favor at all; the actual odds being one to twelve.

The Telmarine kept his bow pointed at Susan, "On the ground."

Susan kept her bow in her hands and said, somewhat boldly, "You put yours down first. You still have the advantage of having more people, even with myself being armed."

After briefly closing his eyes in a somewhat annoyed fashion, the Telmarine put his crossbow on the ground and kicked it away from himself, and then shot Susan a look meaning, 'your turn.' Susan then put her bow on the ground, an eyebrow raised and her stare unwavering on the Telmarine.

Then the gypsies all started to speak at once, voicing what they thought they should do about these uninvited, apparently unwelcome, travelers.

One boy who looked rather like Prince Corin of Archenland shouted out, "They're trespassing!"

A girl with a dark complexion and a heavy Calormene accent replied, "Obviously. We are too, remember?"

Some people were shouting that they've obviously come to steal their things and need to be punished, accompanying those thoughts with certain ideas of punishment, none of which sounded too enjoyable.

Those were drowned out by random shouts of, "Get Digory! We need to tell him." Everyone seemed to agree that they should get this Digory person, but no one seemed willing to leave their position.

While this was all happening, Lucy was fairly over stimulated, hearing the many shouts of the gypsies, she could barely make most of them out individually in the din. However, one voice did come to her ears, loud and clear, although it wasn't shouting.

It was a familiar voice saying a familiar word in unfamiliar disbelief, "Lucy?"

Lucy turned on her heel to face the voice, seeing who it was, she let her jaw drop as she said, with just as much disbelief, "Edmund?"

At this, everyone stopped what they were saying, and turned to watch the exchange between the two young teenagers.

Edmund's expression was hard to read, it seemed to range between confused to even happy, but there was no telling what was behind the weird, crooked smile on his lips as he asked, "What are you doing here?"

Lucy was about to answer when an old, but clear, voice sounded, "What's all this?"

The crowd spread apart to reveal a tall man with wild white hair that tangled in every which way. Lucy was somewhat frightened by him at first, but then decided that he looked pleasant enough.

The Telmarine spoke up, "These two came into the camp uninvited, and when we came to see what their intentions were, the elder one pulled out a bow and arrow against us."

The old man seemed rather amused, "Don't you think, Caspian, that she was simply frightened? Any stranger coming towards you alone is quite enough to make some people uneasy, add the number and what we are, it's rather easy to guess that she was just frightened."

The Telmarine, Caspian, seemed a little embarrassed, saying, "Oh, well, that is one way to see it."

The old man, who must have been Digory, went on, now addressing Edmund, "Judging by the look on your face, and that you called her by name, I'm guessing you know, at least, this one, Edmund?"

Edmund nodded, he shot a look at the two girls, looking for an extra instant at Lucy, but did a double take on Susan, noticing her still rather small, but obviously pregnant belly, he fleetingly let an amused look on his face, before becoming solemn once again, "Yeah. Lucy's…" he paused, as if trying to find the correct word that he felt would describe his and Lucy's relationship, "an old friend of mine. And this is her older sister, Susan."

The crowd was entirely silent, as they watched Digory stroke his chin in thought, before finally saying, "Friends must help friends. The girls will stay with us tonight."

XXXXXXXXX

Lucy had spent most of the evening just watching the gypsies around the fire. She had noticed, that while some of the things they were doing, such as the way they were dancing, was new and foreign to her, the overall nature seemed to mirror any other community; there were the elderly in one place, chatting about their creaky bones, younger women in another, gossiping away happily about the others, men lively playing instruments or otherwise smoking out of long pipes. There were small children playing tag games around the camp, nearly knocking things over, and there were older teenagers, and adults dancing all around the fire.

She had interest in the fiddles they were using, they only had one neck and seemed so much simpler than her familiarity with the Archenlandic Violin, and yet, they had a beautiful sound coming out of it. She had always known violins to be complex, and the simplicity of those interested and confused her.

She saw Edmund across the camp, leaning up against a tree. She began to cross the camp to go stand with him and strike up a conversation. When he saw that she was coming towards him, though, he began to retreat.

Confused as to why he was running away from her, she quickened her pace. He walked quickly, not looking over his shoulder, but it seemed obvious that he wanted her to leave him alone, for whatever reason.

"Why are you avoiding me?" Lucy finally asked, once she had followed him out of the camp and into the dark forest.

Pretending to be surprised Edmund said, "I'm not avoiding you." Well, Lucy thought, he's right on that part. Avoiding wasn't the correct word; he was _running away_ from her.

"Did I do something wrong?" Lucy asked, "Back in Cair Paravel?" Like something that would make you not want to be my friend anymore, she thought.

"No, no." Edmund said, still seemingly trying to find a way to get away, "_You_ didn't do anything wrong to _me_."

"Then why did you leave so suddenly?" Lucy was asking for both when he left Cair Paravel, and just a minute ago, when he was trying to get away from her so direly.

"Lucy," Edmund said, it looked like it was hard for him to be talking, "everyone's got a past. And I've done some pretty bad things in my life. I thought, that by going to Cair Paravel, I could get away from it. It was so stupid," his voice trailed off, so that the last word was barely a whisper of regret.

Lucy, on impulse, put her hand on Edmund's. He looked at it for several seconds, before abruptly shaking it from her grip.

He said, "Look, I can't tell you everything. In fact, I can barely tell you anything at all," he turned to leave. "But, all you do need to know is, I'm not a good person, Lu."

Lucy caught his hand in hers again when he was about to leave, "I can't believe that," she said.

Edmund shot Lucy an apologetic grimace, and took off further into the forest at a brisk walk, nearly a run.

In spite of herself, Lucy asked aloud, "Why does he keep doing that?"

_XXXXXXXXXXX_

_I have to say, that even though being around Edmund hasn't taken away any of the confusion I'm having about him right now, it's nice to see him again._

_But, it bothers me, why did he say that he isn't a good person? I can't believe that. I have too much faith in people to believe that someone can just blatantly say that they aren't a good person and truly be a bad person._

_All that aside, I think I like this band of gypsies. Everyone's nice to us, even if Susan isn't all that nice to them. Some girls have taught me how to dance in their style, and some others have let me have a go on their violins, which I overcomplicated in my mind and wasn't able to keep a tune. But they were nice about that, saying that it's hard to simplify things like instruments down. _

_Susan doesn't like it here though. She says that she's heard too much about gypsies to be comfortable around them._

_I don't see what she means. Yes, I've heard that gypsies tend to be thieves, but I can hardly see any of the people I've come to know stealing from others._

_I really can't. _

**A/N: Tomorrow, my family's packing up and going on vacation for two weeks. I am bringing my laptop along, but I'll have limited time to work on it, nor will I have internet access. So, I will work on my next update but I won't actually be able to update until the two weeks is up. Thanks for understanding. **


	11. Stop Running

**A/N: So, yeah, we went to this campground, and guess what? It has wi-fi! Yay! I can submit this chapter! Yippie! …Well, I'm off to an amusement park!**

_I don't know how much more of Susan's mood swings I can cope with._

_My sister, though I love her very much, has become fairly unbearable to be around. I normally stand it when she gets moody for a week once a month, that I can take, but this, this is just irritating. _

_One second she'll be perfectly fine, and then angry with me for something that I didn't do, like making it rain the day we were originally going to leave the gypsies' camp, making travel practically impossible._

_It's not her fault, her moods are just a bit off from being pregnant and all. I just have to wait it out, but it is getting rather difficult._

_So, you can guess that I try to avoid confrontation and spend most of my time hanging around camp with the gypsies that I have come to call friends. _

_Because of Susan's feelings about the gypsies, you can guess this doesn't settle well with her. If she'd just give them a chance, I'm pretty sure she'd find that she'd get along with some of them._

_I don't know if I should feel horrible about spending most of my time with the others, as opposed to spending it with my sister. _

_The way I'd like to think about it is that if I'm not with her all the time, maybe she'll start to talk with some of the gypsies and perhaps become friendly with them. _

_It's wishful thinking, if nothing else. _

_I seem to be full of wishful thinking these days. I keep on hoping that Edmund will talk to me._

_He doesn't. _

_It kind of goes without saying, but I don't think Edmund wants to be my friend anymore. It's pretty unsettling to me, mostly because I had liked him so much, and because I don't know why he just abruptly stopped our friendship. _

_I wonder what's going on with him. It might just be my natural curiosity coming out, but I can't leave this place without learning why he left Cair Paravel, and why he's avoiding me at all costs. _

_I just can't. _

XXXXX

Susan was sitting on a fallen log, next to her little sister and was preoccupying herself with her supper, and avoiding the eyes of the gypsies.

By now, at nearly four months into her pregnancy, she was getting hungry a lot more than she was used to, she wasn't yet bingeing or craving odd things, but she was definitely eating more than usual.

In her mind, the one good thing about staying with the gypsies was that they had real food. She knew that they couldn't stay too long with them; in fact she'd like to get a move on very soon, but if she couldn't enjoy anything else, let her enjoy the food.

She finished her own plate, and looked at her sister, who was staring into the fire and not touching her food.

"Erm, Lu? Don't you like your supper?" Susan asked, still feeling rather hungry.

"What? Oh, yes." Lucy said, but then noticing the look on Susan's face said, "but I don't eat much, would you like it?"

Susan smiled and took Lucy's plate into her own lap, as the two sisters began making small talk. It wasn't long, though, before Susan mentioned that she still wasn't comfortable with the lifestyle of the gypsies, to which Lucy responded saying that she honestly could be a little more thankful that the gypsies were letting them stay in a caravan, and giving them food.

Susan never thought about it, but it was true. The gypsies—however unsettling they were to her, were being very hospitable to her and Lucy, and Susan could seem a little more grateful. She supposed that she could try helping out around camp from then on until she and Lucy had to resume their travels.

"You know," Lucy said, "you really should give them a chance, they're great people. They're a lot like us."

Susan looked up, surprised, "I don't see what you mean."

Lucy paused, "Take Digory Kirke for example," she gestured to the crazy-haired old man by the fire, "he used to be a professor at the University of Narnia until he joined this band of gypsies."

"Why did he do that?" Susan cocked an eyebrow, confused as to why anyone would leave the University of Narnia for a life amongst marauders.

Lucy shrugged, "Caspian told me that his fiancé ran off on him because she had a fatal illness, or something. What I was told was that he attempted to find her, but ended up joining the gypsies when he couldn't. Then, there's Aravis," she motioned to a dark girl, "she was a Tarkheena in the court of Calormen, but she was going to be forced into marriage, so, after considering suicide, she ran off to Narnia and joined them."

Susan lowered an eyebrow, "I suppose everyone makes their decisions to live their life the way they want to, but it still makes me uncomfortable."

"Are you just afraid of what you don't understand, or do you have some sort of reason to have a problem with them?"

Susan stayed silent for a moment, and then said, "I'm not afraid, just uncomfortable."

She told Lucy goodnight, since she was done eating and didn't really have any reason to stay. When Lucy didn't respond much, Susan found herself getting angry; the very least Lucy could've done was say good night.

Then Susan realized that she was getting angry for no reason. She often did, it seemed. Instead she hurried off to the caravan. She hated getting mood swings. They got in the way of rational thinking, when you're so heavily weighted by unconventional emotion, it was barely possible to have a straight thought.

There was a time when she liked being so heavily weighted by emotion that it was barely possible to have a straight thought, but that was when Peter was around her.

She thought about Peter every day, wondering how his training was going, missing the feel of his arms around her waist, and envying his unawareness of his child growing inside of her.

Her conflicting feelings about the baby stopped her from writing a letter to Peter to tell him about it. She wanted to get everything figured out for herself before telling him.

She had thought about this all before, but it came running through her head again, she would never be able to return to court, unless she got married and that still seemed like a low possibility. The chance of Peter not wanting anything to do with her or the baby, however low, was still there. She couldn't see herself with any other man but Peter, so the possibility of getting married to someone else was out of the question; if any other man would take her, she wouldn't take him.

Needless to say, the pregnancy complicated things.

She was sure she would love her baby once it was into the world, but for the moment, it was her obligation to carry it. In a way, the baby was like a parasite. Living off of her, causing problems for her before it even entered the world. It was an awful, but a seemingly accurate, way to think of her baby.

She reminded herself not to get carried away, to just keep moving forward, that the main focus was still getting to Tumnus's, and after that, she'd focus on everything else when she got there.

Laying down that night, she noticed that her belly seemed to swell a little larger than she remembered, and tried to think about how long she and Lucy had been staying with the gypsies.

Two weeks, she realized, they had been there two weeks. Good grief, she thought, I should already be in Lantern Waste! It only takes a few days to cross Narnia, and the fact that it's taken over a week is bad.

They weren't even to Beruna yet, and the autumn season hung thick in the air.

Time was passing, Susan realized, it was passing without her. The spring the baby was due seemed closer than it truly was.

Ready or not, here it comes.

XXXXXXX

Lucy was going to wave to her sister when she had gone to bed for the night, but became distracted when she met someone's eyes from across the fire.

Once again, she had caught Edmund staring at her. For a moment, it was like nothing had changed; he still had the same dumbstruck look he had gotten when staring at her for no apparent reason back at Cair Paravel.

It was, in it's own strange way, a familiar comfort. Perhaps it meant that he wanted to be friends again? Lucy had never stopped thinking of Edmund as a friend; she thought that it was him who wanted to stop the friendship. She bit her lip and smiled at him, hoping her thoughts were correct.

Seeing that she noticed his staring, Edmund flushed pink and looked away, embarrassed.

Somehow, Lucy ended up moving across the campsite and sitting next to Edmund, who, by some miracle, didn't run away. "Why were you staring at me?" she repeated the familiar question, hoping that it might bring back some of the old familiar atmosphere, back when they were obviously friends.

Thankfully, Lucy got half the reaction she was hoping for. Edmund smiled, but didn't say anything and didn't look up.

"You know, I missed you after you left Cair Paravel," she said, nonchalantly.

"Why?" Edmund turned to face her, confusion written across his face.

"You're my friend, I missed talking with you, and you left without saying goodbye…" Lucy drifted off, softly.

"I already told you," Edmund suddenly turned his face away from Lucy's, "I can't tell you all that."

"Yes, and you also told me that you're a bad person," Lucy said, proving that she had been listening, "you're not. I know you better than that."

"You don't know me at all." Edmund looked like he was about to run away again.

Lucy wasn't angry, and somehow managed to even sound kind when she said, "That's only because you made it that way. You don't have to tell me anything, but you can't change the fact that I do care about you."

"Well, you're wasting your time."

"I can't believe that. People to bad things all the time, but Aslan doesn't say that that makes them bad people!"

"You seriously think that it matters to Aslan?" Edmund said, rather blasphemously.

Lucy, stunned, said, "Of course it does! Why would you say something like that?"

"If it matters to Aslan what happens to the people of Narnia, much less people like me, why doesn't he come and rescue people when…when they're babies kidnapped out of their cradles? When the only daylight from their early life they ever got to see was through a barred window in a cell they were put in for a crime they didn't commit? When, they've only been punished through torture for the greater extent of their lives?" He paused, letting his eyes waver on Lucy for a second. "When…when the _only _thing they want is to be able to forget all that, but the one person who he wants to be around, the one person who he…might be in love with," he looked away, blushing, "is the one who makes them remember all the horrible things he's done?"

Any irritation Lucy had gotten at Edmund melted away when she heard him go on like that. No one could just think something that specific up from the top of their head. Her brows furrowed as she whispered, softly, "What have you gone through?"

"I was speaking figuratively, Lucy." Edmund said, curtly.

"I don't think so," Lucy said, intertwining her fingers with Edmund's, "you know, if Aslan came to everyone every time they needed him, no one would be strong, it's the hard times that make people stronger."

Edmund was obviously stunned by Lucy's gesture, and he couldn't find the words to say. It was like electricity was pulsing through his body at her touch, and he didn't want it to stop at just his hands, and yet, she was giving him a lecture on religion, and for the first time, he was hanging on every word, if not for the actual lecture, just to hear her talk.

Lucy went on, "You might have done some awful things, like you said, but Aslan forgives people. Don't you want to know that you've been forgiven for whatever it is you've done?"

"If you really knew me, you'd know why I don't think Aslan would forgive me." Edmund said, not originally meaning to come off as mulish as he actually was.

"Then tell me!" Lucy said, almost dropping Edmund's hand, calming down, she said, "Nothing is that bad."

"You have no idea," Edmund said, trying to get his hand out of Lucy's hand, who tightened her grip on his.

And just like that, they were friends again.

XXXXXX

_I'm so confused. _

_Aslan help him. That's all I can think right now, as I climb under the covers next to my sister. _

_As sleep takes me, I'm not afraid about another nightmare, rather I'm afraid of the reality of Edmund's lack of faith in Aslan. _

_I know that the Lion forgives, but what if Edmund never asks forgiveness? _

_My belief in Aslan is what gets me through the harder days, as well as the regular and wonderful days. I can't stand to think of someone I love not having …did I just say what I think I said?_

**A/N: Voila? This is the result of a 10-hour long car ride and being on a super-sized Mountain Dew. Tell me what 'cha think. I had to speed some things up, mostly because I realized that I was going too slowly, so yeah. **


	12. Maugrim

**A/N: You're so going to hate me for this chapter. xD **

**/!\ This is really fast paced. Please read it to the end, too. Lucy's little speech at the end explains a LOT! **

_Today, the gypsies are moving their camp, saying that they've already stayed in one place too long. I'd try to stay with them, if they weren't moving towards the east._

_Susan seems relieved that we're leaving, but not so happy to find that thieves have stolen our things. So, we're going to have to find a new route to travel—one on foot._

_We pack up and I say goodbye to my friends. I help some of the gypsies pack up their caravans, and they embrace me as if I'm their family, saying that they'll miss me._

_I'll miss them, too. I halfway wish that I could stay and keep on traveling with them—I even have an interest in becoming a gypsy myself. But, since blood is thicker than water, I have to stay with Susan; she needs me, and I need her._

_Before taking our leave from the camp, once everybody is all packed up, Digory says that it would be dangerous for us two girls to travel alone and he mentioned that we should have an extra traveling companion. _

_I'm not quite sure how we got our extra traveling companion; it's the Edmund Effect again. _

_That's right, you didn't hear me wrong; Edmund is our new 'traveling companion'Although we're friends again, he isn't all that excited to be traveling with us. I don't know why he seemed so upset about it at first. Truth be told, it was a little offensive. What's so bad about traveling with my sister and me?_

_Susan doesn't know Edmund like I do, so his not telling us why he doesn't really want to travel with us doesn't bother her as it does me. _

_On second thought, I wouldn't go to even say that it bothers me. _

_I just want to know. _

XXXXXXX

As far as the traveling was concerned, Edmund seemed to take it upon himself to get the girls to Lantern Waste, he told Susan to get rid of her maps, seeing as he knew the way like the back of his own hand.

After a bit of debate, which was more like a battle of the two strong willed people, Susan packed away her large yellowing map, but she did keep on checking up on it occasionally, just to be entirely sure they were heading in the right direction. She didn't have the same faith in people that her little sister did, and it relieved her to know that their new guide was leading them in the right direction.

The nights were getting chillier as well; the two sisters found themselves moving closer under the new quilt that the gypsies gave them just to become warmer while they slept.

They passed the town of Beruna with only a quick stop to refresh some supplies; food, soap, and Susan bought some extra cloth, thread, and yarn to work on her sewing and perhaps get better than mediocre at crocheting—a feat that she wasn't too skilled at that she would have to learn, if she was going to be a mother.

Other than the quick stop at the mercantile, the trio hurried out of Beruna. Lucy wanted to stay a little longer at the town; she found it fascinating, never really being in a town for very long in her living memory. Unfortunately though, the town of Beruna was the quickest stop that they had made so far on the journey.

Of course, she kept on telling herself, this isn't a vacation, I can't stop at any place I want to, we need to get to Tumnus's house.

XXXXX

The sky was a dark purple color, huge menacing clouds gathered around each other, everything Susan knew about science told her that there was going to be a thunderstorm coming, and quick.

The group of three set off briskly, trying to figure out some way to get shelter from the thunderstorm rapidly approaching. They were in a forest, not the best place to be in during a storm, and no one could seem to think of some way to protect themselves from the weather.

"Can't we stop and rest?" Susan said, seating herself on a flat rock that seemed randomly placed amongst a crowd of trees, just as the soft rumble of thunder skidded through the humid air. Her feet were getting dreadfully tired, and all the traveling was beginning to take a toll on the girl.

Edmund, who was already tired of all the breaks she made them take, turned around, and said in a slightly sarcastic voice, "Of course, and while we're resting, let's put a metal pole down and wait for the lightning—"

Lucy interrupted him. She wrinkled her brow and asked, "Is that a house?"

A moment later, Lucy had run through the crowd of trees, leaving Edmund and Susan to exchanged puzzled looks.

"You have any idea what she's on about?" Edmund said, looking over to Susan, who just shrugged.

After a brief moment, Lucy's voice sounded again, "It is! Look at it! It's a little house…a little cottage! Come here! You have to see this! We can get out of the storm!"

The other two followed Lucy's voice to see that she was telling the truth, as she tended to do. Behind the trees, there was a small cottage, if that's what one chose to make out of it. The roof had caved in a long time ago it seemed, thick white cobwebs hung from the boards that had rotted off of the original piece and now stood as two. The walls had gaps in them randomly placed through it, which came in handy upon entering the little building, seeing as the door was rusted shut. "This place looks like it should be condemned," Susan whispered glancing around her surroundings.

Cobwebs hung from the ceiling boards, holes revealing the upper story, and occasionally through those were holes to reveal the rainy sky, as lighting flashed and thunder shook it. The floor looked like it hadn't been swept or stepped in for years, as a thick layer of dust took over it. All over, there was rotted and splintering wood, coming from what was most likely supposed to be beautiful architecture.

In one corner, there was a shelf, with seven lanterns; seven pick axes, ropes, and other things of the like. In the center of the room, there was a long, but low, table, with seven dirty plates and cups. In another corner, behind a torn away wall, there were seven little beds, all in a row. Each bed had a sheet of dust over it, and in some of the comforters there were holes where non-talking mice must have made their homes before forgetting this old house and moving on to a more hospitable place.

Lucy, noticing the obvious familiarity to a fairy tale she had read, smiled warily and whispered, "It can't be,"

Susan, however, was immediately greeted with a horrible pain in her lower abdomen. The first thought that came to her mind was that the baby was coming, but then she cleared that away, since it was far too soon, and if the child tried to enter the world then, it would die. Her little parasite, that she had mixed feelings about, would die. That did not seem like a good thing at all.

"What's the matter, Susan?" Lucy immediately ran to her sister's side when she saw her face scrunched up in pain, "Are you alright?"

Susan winced, but noticed that the pain was going away, "I'm fine," she said, "just a bit—" she winced, shaking away any more pain in her stomach, "tired from traveling all day, I suppose."

Lucy smiled kindly, "You're sure? You looked really bad a second ago. I, for one, think we should stay here tonight, it's a bit of shelter from the weather, at the least."

Susan didn't necessarily want to stay in the old cottage, but she couldn't help but notice that the feeling of dread seemed to evaporate along with the hallucinations and pain in her abdomen. It was evanescent, all of it.

Edmund, who had gone up to the second story, although that seemed highly dangerous called from one of the holes in the ceiling, "Ladies…I don't think we ought to stay in here tonight…"

"Why not?" Both girls called simultaneously, looking up through the gap to see him.

"Um, well, anyone familiar with the story of Snow White?"

XXXXXXXX

In the rotting out upper story, there was a glass coffin sitting in the center of the room. A rather plain object in itself, but it was the extraordinary plainness of the box that made it, in itself, beautiful. It was there to serve one purpose and one purpose only: to hold someone in it.

The person inside of the coffin was a girl, seemingly not too much older than Lucy. Dust and cobwebs covered the girl, but there was no hiding the beauty that she held, Lucy thought, fair skin, dark hair, full lips. She had her hands laced in each other on her unmoving belly, on which, there was a tight corset over the rest of the dress. In her dark hair, was a comb with long teeth and an unfriendly pattern sat on the metal of it.

"She's beautiful." Edmund murmured softly.

Lucy immediately looked over to the boy she was standing next to, and wrinkled her eyebrows at him, and sighed lightly.

Catching Lucy look at him like that, Edmund tried to cover up for himself, "Well, technically, you know…for someone who's been laying on her back…"

Feeling sorry for Edmund, the poor guy was so clueless, Susan asked, "Is she dead?"

Lucy answered her: "If it's at all like the fairy tale, I don't think so. She'd be waiting for her true love to come and kiss her awake, or something along the lines of that…but I'm not so sure…she looks like you, Su."

Susan, surprised, said, "What are you talking about, Lu? She's blonde."

Lucy looked back at the sleeping girl, "No, she's got black hair."

Edmund had to protest this time, "No, she doesn't. She's a redhead."

The three began to argue over what the girl looked like, Lucy insisted that she saw someone who looked like her sister, with dark hair and the light complexion that most Narnians held, Susan protested and said that she saw someone with olive-toned skin and dirty blonde hair, while Edmund claimed that both girls had to be colorblind, and that while the girl was in fact pale (though not as pale as Lucy claimed she was) she had a red-brown hair color.

"Oh…well, thanks?" Lucy said, when Edmund said that the hair on the sleeping girl was like a richer imitation of Lucy's.

Frantically trying to save himself, Edmund said, "Wait…I didn't mean it like that!"

All of a sudden, out of nowhere, a gruff snicker came from what seemed to be one of the holes in the ceiling. A moment later, an enormous gray wolf and an old withered hag in a cloak the seemed to be made of black smoke were standing in the room behind them, "It's magic glass," the hag said, in a creaky voice.

The wolf turned to Edmund, "It's been awhile, your grace," the wolf said, in a voice like gravel. When his lips moved, white teeth glistened full of saliva at them.

Lucy and Susan wrinkled their brows, as they stared at the exchange between the boy and the wolf. They stepped back, for fear of getting hurt. When they moved, the rotting floor groaned under them, and sometimes seemed to give way a tad bit. Susan's lips were tightly knit, and Lucy's gaped open.

Edmund's voice was like stone. "Maugrim. Looks like my avoid and evade tactic didn't work as well as I'd hoped."

The wolf, Maugrim, sneered, "You really think a mere boy could stay away from the Captain of the rightful Her Majesty Jadis's Secret Police?"

"I had for nearly two years," Edmund said, pretending to be airy, "I thought you had given up. I take it I shouldn't have gotten so comfortable?"

Thunder cracked, and the wolf snarled, "Enough of this. I have specific orders to bring you back. She's dying, and she needs her successor."

"Is the old witch finally going to expire, then? Quite frankly, I didn't know she could. Good riddance, I say."

The hag called out, "Is that any way for a son to speak of their mother, Edmund?"

Edmund cringed, and Lucy stepped forward, "Son?" she asked, voice cracking, "You're her…her son?"

Cringing again, Edmund said, "Give me a liberal definition on the word 'son'" he paused, and went on, "I'm not her son, really. I'll explain later," Edmund pulled her back behind him, and turned back to the wolf and hag, "Anyway, I ran away, isn't that a blatant sign that I'm not interested, or are you all thick, slimy ogres?"

Maugrim sneered, "You have no choice. She chose you herself to be her successor, to carry on her work, it's an honor and it's your destiny."

After swearing loudly, Edmund said, "I'd sooner kill myself."

The hag rasped out, "You put your life in jeopardy, but what of the girl's? I'm sure her feet would fit in the iron slippers."

Suddenly, Edmund pulled Lucy in behind him further.

As the hag moved, Susan noticed something golden glisten on the thin, wrinkled wrist, she recognized it as if she had just worn it yesterday, "Mum's locket!" she cried, it was the same locket that Susan had worn the night of the raid, which meant that that was the same hag who she had had the confrontation with.

Both the hag and Maugrim looked at Susan before the hag began hysterical wicked laughter, "It's her! It's the one whose blood is destined to begin the Winter!"

"Oh no. Now you've done it," Edmund whispered.

Maugrim's gruff voice sounded, "Enough of this. Her Majesty won't wait forever. And now we've got her successor, and the one to begin the Winter, take them now, all three. As long as the third is here, the boy will always try to escape."

XXXXXXX

It wasn't certain what happened next, exactly. There was a loud bark, and then the sound of wood snapping in two and then they were running, all three of them. They were running blindly, with no destination in mind, just to get away.

Susan felt like her lungs were about to burst from the sudden movement, shock, and the heavy humidity.

They just kept on running.

Lucy was pretty sure that the thunderstorm had stopped, and would have liked a chance to catch her breath, but she kept on running.

They kept on running, as sweat covers their bodies, as they panted, their sides got sore and their mouths filled with saliva. But they kept on running.

Eventually, they did stop. The thunderstorm had passed, and the night air was cool and dry. It was hard to believe that a thunderstorm had been shaking them just several minutes earlier.

Once the adrenaline had begun to slow down, it gave them all a chance to think about what had happened. Maugrim and the hag had said that Susan's blood was destined to begin the 'Winter'

Lucy didn't know what that meant, but it frightened her. Susan was a bit unnerved with the likes of an enormous wolf and the same evil hag who had nearly killed her in her childhood chasing her, she didn't put too much stock in what they said. She didn't believe in destiny, after all. Everyone has control over what happens to them in life, was how Susan liked to see it.

After analyzing what they said about Susan, it came the time to think about what they said about Edmund. He had run off and sat on top of a hill, staring at the black sky. Something told Lucy that he wanted to be left alone, but regardless, she climbed the hill and sat next to him so closely that their hips were touching.

She asked him if what they said was true, not wanting to believe it. She didn't want to believe that Edmund was the son of a witch.

To her dismay, all Edmund said was, "At least now you know why it could never work."

The phrase, it could never work, was a bit of a surprise to Lucy. Either Edmund meant that as a purely friend-to-friend sort of a thing, but that was unlikely. So it meant that he had thought of her as more than that before.

Not having given it much thought before, Lucy didn't quite know what to say. Her vocal chords moved on their own accord, and they said, "I'll think you should know that the word 'never' isn't really in my vocabulary."

XXXXXXX

Susan made a small campfire out of undergrowth and sticks, nothing too terribly impressive, but enough to keep her warm and enough to use for a light to write.

For some reason, while she was going through the previous events in her head, she kept on thinking that she needed to write to Peter instead of focusing on the fact that two deranged and evil creatures were probably out to get her.

So, rather than have her procrastination fog up her mind in case she needed to use it more later on, she decided to write the letter and get it over and done with.

Peter needed to know, he had a right to know.

Scrawling the first two words down came easy, "Dear Peter," but the rest came hard. It wasn't as if she could just write; "I'm pregnant" and have it all over and done with. Though she did wish she could just do that.

She eventually decided just to write what she needed to, present it as if she were talking about the weather on the mainland.

Finally, she was done with the letter. She finally signed it with her name and finished with a flourish on the last letter and a large sigh.

Now she just needed to find a post office.

XXXXXXX

_I watch him talk, as he tells me everything. _

_He tells me that he's not at all biologically related to the Witch (I'm pretty glad about this) and that he's tried to mend his ways.  
_

_He tells me why he was raised by the White Witch, his mother was going to die before he was born; leaving both her and her unborn son, Edmund, dead. His father, who was frantically trying to save his wife's life, went to the Witch to try and seek a way to save her. The Witch promised him that his wife would be saved, if she could have his son when he was born. His father agreed to such terms (might I point out now that if his parents had looked for Aslan, the Lion wouldn't have asked for anything in return) and when Edmund was born, he was whisked away to the Witch's castle, where he was raised to be evil. _

_I ask him what had happened, since he obviously isn't evil, he says, "I met this girl, or rather, I saw her eyes, and they were so innocent. They changed me. I just didn't know I'd ever tell her that." _

_He tells me about how he was in the raid, sparing me the details, and how he was changed after that night. _

_What I feel right now, it's confusing. I'm not happy that he was apart of the rebel gangs that killed my parents, but he was only eight, he didn't know any better. And now he does. _

_He's explained everything to me, and I understand, a bit more than him, I think. It's not his fault, he was raised by evil, and he's probably done some horrible things, I'm not saying he hasn't, but he's seen the light at the end of the tunnel, and he's almost out into the light. Only Aslan can bring him out into the light completely, if he'd ask for forgiveness, he'd be out of the tunnel entirely._

_I wonder why, you'd think that I'd have more bad feelings about this, but I don't. _

_As I look at him, under the moonlight, I know why. _

_I think I might have fallen in love with him._

**A/N: Holy long chapter. O.o Please review. Can anyone guess which fairy tale I based how Edmund came to be raised by Jadis from? I'll give you a clue: Edmund, Edmund let down your hair!**


	13. Things Explained

_It's nighttime, and we probably should be getting back to camp, since Susan's all alone. _

_But I don't want to go back to camp. _

_All I want is to stay here forever, sitting next to Edmund, inhaling his scent, talking to him, intertwining our fingers. _

_He's talking about what a horrible person he is, just because of everything he's done. I tell him that that can't be true; it's _what_ he's done, and _what_ he was. It's not _who_ he is. _

_There's a distinction between the two. I, of all people, should know. For example, to say that I'm the, originally unwanted, result of an affair, yes, that's what I am. But is it who I am?_

_No. Definitely not. _

_A Witch might have raised Edmund, he might have thrown the match to set a house on fire, and he might have even cut off someone's head, though I hope he hasn't. That's _what_ he's done, and _what_ he was. _

_Not _who_ he is. _

_Who he is, well, he's the just, funny, and amazing, boy—nearly man—that I'm in love with. _

_He told me that it could never work. _

_I realize that the word 'it' means us. As in us as two people together. As in us being something more. _

_Does that mean that he likes me as something more? Or was he just meaning it as a friend-to-friend sort of thing? _

_All I know is that I've fallen in love with Edmund; I may even still be falling._

_Don't ask me how I know that I'm in love, because I'm not sure about how I know. I just do._

_It's just raw emotion. It's like nothing else I've felt before. It's confusing, frightening, and wonderful, all at the same time_

_We're still talking, only now do I notice how close I sat down next to him. The sides of our hips are touching, and his hand is limply resting on the outer edge of my leg, just above my knee. _

_I stare at his hand; I can feel the heat from it through my skirts. It's light and innocent physical contact; even though people tend to think it's a bit risqué when someone touches another's leg. _

_I don't think he even notices that he's touching me at all, much less on my leg, his hand just kind of went there as a result of my sitting so close to him._

_He notices that I'm looking at his hand. He blushes and apologizes, moving over._

_I want to tell him not to be sorry, that I didn't mind his hand on my knee. I actually kind of liked the brief physical contact._

_Of course, that would be way too forward, and besides, I don't know what he thinks of me for sure, and I definitely don't want to leave the wrong impression._

_I never knew being in love could be so complicated. _

_But, you know what?_

_I don't really care._

XXXXXXXXXX

When Lucy and Edmund came down from the top of the hill, Susan had already finished her letter to Peter and had begun to try and cook dinner. She had found it alarming that she had gotten hungry after the events of the day, but regardless, she felt like she could seriously do with a good, old-fashioned, bacon sandwich.

She was having a difficult time figuring out how to cook their supper. First she had nearly smothered the flames when she put the black frying pan over the embers, then she realized that she didn't have the appropriate cooking utensils for frying bacon, so she had to improvise. Finally, though, she had found a way to make it work.

Susan took Lucy aside for a moment, to ask about what the current situation was, depending on what Edmund had told her, if that changed anything at all. As far as Susan knew, the situation was that they were still trying to get to Tumnus's, but with a new twist; two evil creatures were most likely going to try to hunt her down.

Lucy just bit her lip, and explained what she felt it was appropriate to tell her sister; after all, Edmund didn't tell Susan all of this himself, he might not be comfortable with Susan knowing everything, she explained briefly about what she knew about the whole situation.

"I see," Susan said, "and what about me?"

"I'm not entirely sure. Ed said that he'd explain it to both of us at the same time."

"Wait a second, 'Ed?'" Susan asked, arching an eyebrow, then smiling after seeing her little sister shrug and blush, recognizing the look that graced Lucy's features, she asked, "Lucy? What's…" she was going to continue, but the unfriendly odor of burning meat filled her nostrils as she turned on her heels and yelled, "Edmund, you're burning the bacon!"

She scrambled over to the fireside, lightly pushing Edmund out of the way, to franticly try to salvage her supper. She carefully turned over each piece and examined it, then she declared it edible, but a tad too crisp, "You don't cook much, do you Edmund?"

Edmund shrugged, fixing a few of the blacker slices of bacon onto his bread, and passing two pieces to Lucy, exchanging a quick glance as the bread passed in between their fingers. His eyes were once again on her lips, a small smile sat on them when she realized that he was doing it again.

They sat next to each other as they watched with a mixture of surprise and awe as Susan gobbled up her first sandwich and started on another, seeing them stare at her, she said, "What? I'm eating for two; remember?"

They all cracked up laughing at that. For some reason, the normality of the last few precious moments was amusing to them. Which was truly what they needed, some sort of normality after all that had gone on in the last twenty-four hours.

Then, they all sobered up as Edmund began to explain what Maugrim and the hag meant when they were talking about Susan, "See," he explained, "they're a few of the followers of the White Witch, as you've probably guessed. They're trying to finish the Witch's horrible work; you know, trying to overthrow the House of Frank and send Narnia into an eternal Winter, that's where you come in, Susan."

Wiping the grease off of her fingers onto the grass below her, Susan said, "I'm not following you. What does that have to do with me?"

"I'm getting to that," Edmund said, "anyhow, there are two ways to send Narnia into eternal Winter. The first is the Witch doing it herself, with her wand and some really complex spell, but she's got to be really powerful when she does that, and, apparently, she's finally dying, and hopefully isn't up to performing said spell. The second, the second one involves you, Susan. Or, rather, your blood."

Susan put one of her hands over her wrist, and felt the vein with her fingers; she exchanged a quick glance with her sister.

Edmund went on: "What it is, is that someone with a certain amount of star and human in their blood, would prick their finger on some sort of magic needle or thorn, and if the blood should fall on silver spun from grass, the person would fall into a deep sleep, and however long said person would be asleep, Winter would reign over Narnia, and in the cold seasons, is when the Witch, her evil magic, and her armies are the most powerful."

"But that's not an eternal Winter, it's more like however long the person can stay asleep." Susan said, raising an eyebrow.

Lucy said, recognizing again a connection to a fairy tale she had once read, "It's an eternal sleep, isn't it?" She was going to mention that she figured that the cure was probably true love's kiss, but she felt like that would be far too well connected to be an odd coincidence.

Edmund nodded, and continued, "You remember that girl in the coffin in the cottage? Now, I don't know if I'm right or not, but my guess is that she had a similar sort of thing, eternal sleep to complete some sort of dark spell, but I can't be sure."

He paused, "You know, what I don't get is why Maugrim said that the only reason to take Lucy would be to keep me from running away. You two are sisters, right? You should each have the same amount of star and human in your blood."

"Oh," Lucy said, "we didn't have the same father," she wasn't used to talking about that, the words were strange on her lips, "I'm completely human...I think."

"I see," Edmund said, realizing now why the two sisters looked so different, but not quite understanding what Lucy meant by 'I think'. Shaking off the interesting fact he just learned about her, he continued, "What we need to do is get you two to your friend's house. You guys should be reasonably safe once you get there, if you stay under wraps for a while."

XXXXXXXX

Miles and miles away from the mainland of Narnia, on a grassy and hilly island that was used primarily for herding sheep, and for training the knights of Narnia, Peter was sitting around a campfire with some of the other knights.

His training was going quite well, he had to admit. Even the pen and paper portion of the training he was able to bear. Now that he was on the phase that tested the physical ability of the knights, and made sure they were in proper shape, Peter was able to enjoy himself when he was being worked.

The problem was, that the training only actually went on for a few hours a day, and the rest of the day was up to the knights to entertain themselves on their own. That's when Peter had time to think about Susan, and wonder why she wasn't writing.

He had written several times, but he had yet to get a letter back. She had always been good about writing back rather quickly in the past, so why wasn't she, then?

He tried to put it out of his mind, but it was somewhat hard sometimes when the other knights had letters from their wife, fiancé, or girl. It was a screaming reminder that he had yet to get a letter from his girl.

Was she angry with him? He knew that she didn't want him to go, but he had to, unless he wanted to get kicked out of the army, or put on desk duty. Though, Susan wasn't the type to get angry over things that were fairly logical. Besides, she didn't seem angry with him the night before he left for the islands…unless, he thought, that's what she does when she's angry with me.

The knights were sitting around the campfire, like they often did at night, before retiring for sleep. They would talk about many things, training and strategies, mostly, but sometimes, they would talk about more domestic things (much to some of the younger, more eager knight's dismay)

That night, a middle-aged man was talking about how his daughter was getting married that year, and how he was sad that he couldn't be there. He said that he remembered his own wedding day to his late wife like yesterday, and wanted to see the same joy on his daughter's face.

Talking about marriage made Peter think. Peter had long since known that he was in love with Susan; but never before had he considered marrying her. He was fine with their relationship the way it was, which was pretty much married, other than in the legal sense, but what did Susan want?

Peter wasn't like most men, whose opinion on marriage is; _yeah, sure, whatever, you take care of everything, love. _When he got married, if he got married, he'd want to have a part in it, help out. 'Still,' he thought, 'she's eighteen and I'm nineteen. I think Susan and I are a little young to be getting married, aren't we? When we get married, we'll probably want a family, and I know we're way too young for that.'

Ironic, isn't it?

XXXXXXXX

_By the middle of the day, we're right outside of the city of Beaversdam, still standing in the fringe of forest._

_As I look at the city I notice that it's not as big as Cair Paravel and the surrounding cities, but it's still a fair-sized city. I can see animals, fauns, centaurs, and even humans bustling about through the streets, as if they're all in a hurry to get somewhere. _

_It still looks nice, though. A nice little western city. _

_The realization hits me as I watch everyone from afar; we're finally in Lantern Waste. Tomorrow, I'll most likely be in Mr. Tumnus's house, sitting in front of my old friend's fireplace, sipping hot , please don't call me a pessimist, but something makes me doubt that that's how it's going to work out._

_Nothing's gone to plan, so far, on this journey, and I have a feeling the next few days are going to follow suit._

_Something's going to go wrong._

_I_ _don't want to think this, but I can feel it._

**A/N: Ugh. Too short…**


	14. Beaversdam

_It didn't take very long at all to find an inn to stay at in Beaversdam. Oddly enough, the inn is called 'The Dam' and is run by a middle aged married couple that are, you guessed it, Beavers. They're friendly but, at the same time, quirky in their own funny little way; I like them both._

'_The Dam' itself is rather funny, actually. It's built like the kind of dams that beavers, both talking and non-talking, build, which I suppose makes sense. The thing that's funny is Susan and my room; it's made out of the logs, sticks, and dried mud like the rest of the inn, but is decorated like a house that a human would have; soft, downy beds with frames (I was excited by the softness of the beds) there's a rug, nightstand with a wash basin and mirror, a screen to change clothing behind, and there's even a bathroom attached it. _

_I've taken a look at some of the other rooms, they have rooms for all different sorts of people; rooms with a more earthy feel for fauns, spacious rooms for centaurs, rooms that gave one the feeling of being underground (which, I suppose is for Foxes, Moles, Badgers, or other animals that make their homes underground) all the rooms are welcoming to whatever kind of person needs a room. _

_So, after looking around, and seeing how the different rooms are designed for different kinds of people, it surprised me that we were the only people staying here at the moment, but apparently, they don't get much business in the autumn, other than Mr. Beaver's friend, Badger, who stops by nearly whenever he can to gossip or play cards with Mr. Beaver. _

_The beds are so soft and inviting, I almost want to just collapse on it and fall asleep right now, in the middle of the day. _

_Of course, I can't just crash and sleep the day away, though I'd very much like to. We'll eat out tonight. We'll be able to bathe, wash out hair. We'll be able to retire on a nice soft bed, at least for tonight. _

_Even though I still have that slight feeling of oncoming dread, I try to shake it off, just think, we've already made it almost completely across the country. _

_We're in Beaversdam, and, more importantly, we're finally in Lantern Waste._

XXXXXXXXXX

Susan looked at the cards in her hand; they didn't look too promising. She only had numbers inked in gold staring back at her. She was normally good at cards, if the game had a logical background to it, but sadly, she had the worst hand she had ever had in her life.

Not a single King Frank or Queen Helen card sat in her hand, much less the top of the deck, an Aslan card. She sighed and put down the highest card she had in her hand; a six, "So, I mailed my letter to Peter," Susan said lightly, drawing another card, hoping to get a higher card, but sadly, only a silver four sat in her fingers.

"I'm sure you've got nothing to worry about, he loves you, and he's a great guy," Lucy replied, looking through the cards in her hand, trying to figure out which card to play, "Things'll work out for the best, I'm sure about it." She sat down a silver two card over Susan's six, and drew one for herself.

"Who said I'm worrying about it?" She slapped down a five and drew a new card from the deck; a six.

"It's got to be scary for you, not knowing exactly how he's going to take the news, it's a bit much to spring on him."

"It's all my fault," she murmured, to herself, rather than to Lucy.

"I don't really think that a baby anyone's fault, Su. You shouldn't have been with Peter so soon, but this is the outcome. You can't do anything about it now." She looked through her cards, slapped down a three on the bed, and drew another card.

Wanting to change the subject, Susan asked, "Why are you only playing the lower deck? You've got to have better cards than twos and threes."

"Oh, it's a strategy that Edmund told me about, I'm going to see if it works." Lucy said, she got a distant look in her eyes, and then asked, "Su? How did you first know that Peter loves you back?"

"Well," Susan put down her cards, and said, "I didn't know for sure until he actually told me, and that was after I kissed him. But, there were clues," she smiled in remembering, "he'd learn in when talking to me, look at me a lot, things like that. Of course, he'd also do romantic things even before, like saving all of our letters. Why do you ask?"

Lucy's cheeks tinted a light pink as she said, "Well, I want to get an idea if Edmund likes me back."

"Back?" Susan echoed, raising an eyebrow quizzically at her sister.

Nodding, Lucy bit her lip, and said, "I love him."

"That's a huge thing to say, Lu," Susan said, wondering if she heard correctly but, knowing Lucy, she had, "How can you say that about someone you haven't even known for a year?"

"I don't know," Lucy said, shrugging, "I just know that I do."

"How can you 'just know'?" Susan, who had spent hours upon hours deciding on her feelings on Peter before she had kissed him, asked.

"You're in love yourself, don't you know what it's like?"

Truth be told, Susan did know what it was like to have wings on her heels, but she didn't understand how _Lucy_ could fall in love with _Edmund_, "Lucy, he's a nice enough boy, and, yes, I'll admit, it's good to have a third person to travel with, but he was with those who killed our parents. He contributed to it," Susan said, wondering why that fact didn't seem to affect her little sister.

"It's not the same thing!" Lucy immediately jumped to Edmund's defense, "He didn't know any better. He was only eight! Besides," she said, cooling down a little bit, "you don't get to choose who you fall in love with."

"That's the sort of thinking that's bound to draw his attention," When Lucy didn't seem to know what she was saying, Susan clarified, "You're just being optimistic. Not everything is better than it's face value. Just look at me! Can you tell me that there's a silver lining to having this…this _thing_ in me," She still often referred to her baby as a parasite in her brain, but she knew that it bothered Lucy when she said so, she continued "It's turning my life upside-down, possibly making Peter leave me, or else lose his place in the army."

Lucy stood up, "Well, like it or not, what's in you is a living _person_. He's going to have opinions and thoughts, and she's going to look up to you as a mother. It's a lot of responsibility, but I'd think it'd be worth it, just to hear a little child call out for you at two in the morning and mean _you_." She was getting annoyed with her sister, it was always the same thing that she was complaining about, even then, when they were on their way to go and fix it. Why did everything have to come back down to that, anyway? Couldn't she and Susan have a conversation that didn't redirect to that?

It didn't seem so.

Susan didn't like when Lucy was able to make a strong point on passion alone, as she often did whenever they fought. Which wasn't much. Susan and Lucy never fought like normal teenage sisters are supposed to, perhaps that was because they had to depend on the other throughout their lives? Still, they did argue, but never badly. They would argue whenever their thoughts and feelings clashed drastically, as it just happened.

Perhaps, long ago, they did argue like normal sisters.

Back before Lucy fell in love,

Back before Susan got pregnant,

Back before it was confirmed that Lucy was a bastard,

Back before Susan had first kissed Peter on her birthday,

Back when they had their parents.

XXXXXXXXX

For the first time in Lucy didn't know how long, she was taking a hot bath. She could barely wait to soak in the hot water, scrub her skin until it became pleasingly clean and pink in color. Not to mention she could finally wash her hair, which had become dirty and smoky smelling from the campfires.

It wasn't that she hadn't bathed since she and her sister had begun their journey, because they had, but they had only washed in the chilly river. So to be kind to the fish, birds, and other animals that ate the fish, they couldn't use all that much soap, so therefore, they weren't able to get entirely clean. Lucy wasn't crazy about maintaining perfect cleanliness but she did know that it's important to bathe often.

Lucy had filled up the bathtub with boiling water, added it to some plain cold water, and had lowered herself into the tub, making the water rise in the bathtub upon her entering.

The water was, at first, a shock to her, but after she got used to the warmth of it, she began to enjoy herself. She laid in the hot water for a few minutes, relaxing. Thinking about how nice that bath felt, how it relaxed her sore muscles that she hadn't even realized were sore before she soaked them. She thought about other things, felt bad about snapping at Susan earlier, but happy that they gave themselves time to cool off so they could make up later. Lucy wondered how things were going to turn out, if they were ever going to return to Cair Paravel, and, what she was going to do about her feelings about Edmund.

She couldn't just ignore them, oh no, that wasn't the way Lucy was. Still, she didn't allow herself to think about him for long, she just wanted to simplemindedly think about the bliss of the bath and how good it felt to finally be in clean, hot water.

Holding her breath, she lowered her head underwater and let the liquid cover her face. It felt nice to be completely submerged. The warmth cocooned around her body. Eventually, she felt her lungs get heavy and strain, as if they were saying, "Oy, Lucy! Oxygen, oxygen. _Now!_"

Obliging to her lungs' commands, she let her face rise over the water, she let her head float as she filled her lungs with the air. She laid relaxing for a while more, before realizing that she had probably been in the bath for a long time, not wanting to use the Beavers' buckets for too long, decided to begin washing.

Using a rough bristled brush, she scrubbed the dirt and smell of smoke off of her skin with a cloth and bar of soap. As she guessed her skin, which had already begun to become rosy from the heat of the water, became a bright pinkish color in moments.

She lathered her hair with a bar of soap, making sure to get all of the dirt and grease off of her scalp before rinsing it off with the water in the extra bucket, she washed her hair until it squeaked when rubbed together.

Deciding that she was indeed clean enough, she fastened the sash to her borrowed bathrobe around her waist, and twisted out her hair to ring out most of the excess water before brushing it out and stepping behind the screen to change into her clothes.

Lucy had all of her clothing in a pile, and she searched through it for her bottom layer of undergarments. Girls in Narnia typically wore three layers of clothing, a bottom layer made up of a short material that wrapped around the legs, somewhat like men's leggings, but looser, and a thin chemise to cover the chest. The second layer was merely a plain cream-colored dress that went under the outer dress. Lucy often skipped the whole layers ordeal and simply wore the short pants and a long chemise under the dress that other people saw, but she was having somewhat of a difficult time finding said long chemise, and figured that she might have to wear the second layer, though she didn't like it all too well, it made everything seem a good deal hotter, after all. Though, she thought, the weather is turning colder, so maybe it won't be too terrible wearing the extra layer.

Just as she pulled her underskirts over her head, she heard a knock on the door, "Who's there?" she called out.

"Edmund," he called out from the other side of the door, "can I come in?"

Considering that Lucy was behind a screen, and only had one more skirt left to put on anyhow, she told him that the door was open and just to head on in.

"Um, where are you?" Edmund's voiced called out, from what seemed to be right in front of the door.

"Behind the screen," she called, began to tie the strings that kept her underskirt up.

"Oh, well, do you want me to leave and come back…erm…when you're decent?"

"I'm just about done, I'll only be a second," she called out, making her voice raise over the screen, and shook out the outer dress to get a good look at it. It was a fairly simple cut, but a nice blue color, like a robin's egg. Susan had just bought it for her, and was still in town looking for a maternity dress.

She had just put her dress fully on, when Edmund said, "Well, I just wanted to say goodbye."

Lucy found herself stepping out from behind the screen, "You leaving?" she asked, confused, walking over to Edmund to stand right in front of him.

"Well, yeah," Edmund scratched the base of his neck, "we're in Lantern Waste, it's not like it's too long until you and Susan get to your friend's house."

Lucy felt nearly all of the color run out of her face, "But…_why_? I thought you were going to help us get all the way to Tumnus's."

"You don't need my help to get there, do you? I don't even know where it is."

Lucy looked at her feet, "But what about Susan? They're out to get her, too." It was true, and, of course, that was on Lucy's mind when she said it, but you couldn't blame the little part of her mind that figured using that excuse might get Edmund to change his mind, and stay with her.

Sighing loudly, Edmund said, "I just need to get away from here…this place. Everything."

Not knowing whether or not to be hurt by what Edmund said, Lucy asked, "Am I a part of everything?" When Edmund lowered his brow and looked as if he didn't know what she was talking about, Lucy said, "You said that you wanted to get away from everything! Do you want to get away from me?" She felt her vision blur as she said, in a voice almost like a whisper, "Again?"

"Again?" Edmund echoed, "What are you…"

"Back in Cair Paravel!" She found her voice rising, and brought it down several octaves, "You left me. And I missed you," blushing, she added, " and I don't want to miss you again."

"Look, I'm trying to forget about everything I've done before, what I am."

With her arms folded across her chest, Lucy took several steps back, "You know, I wish you would stop using that excuse. There's a difference from what you are and who you are, Edmund. You decide what the difference is."

Edmund stared at the floor; as if he didn't know what to say next, eventually he looked up and into Lucy's eyes, saying, "I'll miss you, Lu.

"Then don't leave!" Lucy said, stronger than she had been speaking, and without quite being aware of what she was doing, she flung her arms around his waist and gave him a tight hug, "Please don't leave," she murmured.

It was a little bit unnerving, actually embracing him like that. Yes, she had held his hand before, and yes, they had had brief physical contact before, but she had never actually hugged him like that before, fully from the front, arms around his waist.

He murmured, "I don't know what I'm doing," and Lucy could feel his eyes on her, looking at her, seeing her.

She slowly let go of Edmund's waist, and slowly craned her head up, to look at him. He was staring at her like so many times before, only that time, perhaps because of their closeness, she felt like he knew how she felt, and he felt it too.

Lucy felt Edmund's hands on her arms, as she brought the weight to the balls of her feet, leaning up, and she could have sworn that she saw him lean down, in towards her face.

They were so close, just like the time she had snagged her elbow on a rosebush back in Cair Paravel, it seemed like a lifetime ago.

Just as Lucy felt that they were going to finally close the gap between them, just as she felt like she was going to get her first kiss, the door swung open, and they jumped apart.

There, in the doorway, was Susan, a purple maternity gown over her arm, and a bag of other items she had bought in the shops that day, got a funny look on her face, as she asked, "Am I interrupting something?"

XXXXXXX

_To answer my sister's question,_

_Yes, actually, Susan. You were interrupting something._

_Oh well, nothing to be helped now._

_It obviously wasn't the time for me to kiss Ed, simple as that._

_Whoa._

_I came really close to actually having my first kiss._

_And then, Susan came in._

_At least we're getting along now._

_It's how Susan and I argue, we don't often, but when we do, we just need to spend time away from each other and then when we're together again, we apologize and it's like nothing happened._

_It's a sister thing, I suppose._

**A/N: Yes, I totally based the how Susan and Lucy argue on how I argue with my little sister. Because, it I based it off of me and my other siblings…well…something would've gotten thrown and/or broken…like an arm. Please review. **


	15. Naughty Fairies

_When I wake up this morning, I feel cleaner and more rested than I have in ages. The bed is so soft; it's almost like laying in a soft, puffy cloud. I reach up over my head and feel the mattress with the palm of my hands and let my fingers caress the soft material. The sheets are warm over where I had been sleeping, but they've gotten a cold touch to them in the places I haven't laid in all night. I keep my eyes closed as I roll from my stomach onto my back. _

_The sunlight streams in through the window and onto my face, and I can smell the unseasonably warm autumn air. I arch my back and stretch out my arms and legs like a cat as I yawn. _

_My eyes flutter open, the room is full of natural light that reflects off the mirror and radiates onto my face. _

_Susan laughs at me, she's already awake and playing a game of solitaire on her bed. She's always found it amusing, for some reason, the way I wake up in the morning. _

_It makes me wonder how she wakes up. Doesn't she stretch and yawn after eight or so hours of sleep? I don't really know for sure, seeing as I'm never in the room as she wakes up, I'm either out, enjoying myself, or sleeping when she wakes up._

_Susan and I talk very briefly. It's not very important what we're saying, but I can tell that Susan's going to be rather moody today. She's laughing for now, but I know that in an instant she may very well be angry with me. It's almost like the calm before the storm. _

_Sitting up, I grab a hairbrush and begin to swipe it through my hair, as I think. _

_Last night, my dreams were like lightning. They literally flashed through my mind, white light. I barely remember a thing, aside from objects. Certain objects just kept on flashing through my mind in flickers of light. _

_A sort of hollowed-out horn, a knife—no, a dagger, and a door. _

_It's funny, while the horn and the dagger, I remember, were stunningly beautiful and intricate; they aren't what is stuck in my brain. Old Narnian design covered the horn; I'm not quite sure what was on it exactly, but I do remember that it was beautiful. The dagger was simpler; the point was shiny and reflected light, the handle a deep crimson. It too was beautiful. _

_But, the door. The door is what got stuck in my brain. It's curious, and I don't know why. The old thing looks like any door that would be placed over any old building, almost as if it's the door that could be on a house. But for some reason, a mine comes to my mind._

_When we're having breakfast that morning, I ask the Beavers if there's a mine in the city. Despite several strange looks I get from Susan, Edmund, and both of the Beavers, I eventually get the answer._

_There's an old abandoned mine that no one really knew what it was used for, the guesses were either diamonds or gold, on the outskirts of the city._

_We're supposed to leave Beaversdam today, so I think that maybe we could stop in and have a look around, just to see what my dream was about._

_XXXXXXX_

"Lucy, what's gotten into you? We can't just go walking around in a…in a—" Susan searched for words, her sister had to have some sort of fever that prevented her from thinking rationally; she wanted to go and do something so possibly dangerous and, well, quite frankly, eccentric, "you don't even know what it was used for!"

"Well, you heard Mr. Beaver. It was probably just a diamond or gold mine. Anyway, since it's abandoned," Edmund said, "it's probably all rid of whatever it was used for, but I don't think that it would be anything all too danger—" he lost his voice when he saw the icy glare coming from the elder of the two sisters, but a glimmer came to his eyes when he saw the grin across Lucy's face.

"Thank you, Edmund." Susan said snappily, she was in a rather foul mood, first with the hormones and then Lucy just wanting to explore a mine out of the blue because of something she's not even sure about that she saw in a dream? It was a bit much for Susan's practical mind to handle, "Lucy, you don't even know what it's like down there…maybe there's no oxygen, or…I don't know…there's an infestation of poisonous non-talking snakes or… you remember last time we did something like this! I seem to remember something about a _wolf _needing my _blood_ for eternal winter!"

Lucy continued to try and loosen the boards keeping the entrance to the old mine shut, it wasn't the door from her dream, but she still had the feeling that she should enter the mine.

She wasn't necessarily an impulsive person, but she did follow her instinct, that did occasionally lead her to perhaps break an arm but nothing worse than that, "I'm telling you, I have a feeling that I should go here," she said, rather calmly, since she was getting used to Susan's mood swings.

"And I had the feeling that I wouldn't get pregnant before I married, and yet, here we are." Susan muttered under her breath, just so that she could hear, but not Lucy. Being much louder, she said, "This is insane!"

Lucy had broken through the wood, just so that there was a hole the size of a person to walk through, "You know you don't have to come if you don't want to. I think you should though," she said, blushing when Edmund stepped up in front of her to help her through the break in the boards, she murmured her thanks as she disappeared into the blackness that was the mine.

Irritated, Susan sighed. This wouldn't turn out well, everything that she knew pointed to that. In spite of herself, she sighed, "Fine, I'm coming."

As she stepped through the hole, the mine was dusty, warm and dry, and not much like any sort of mine that Susan had heard about before. More tunnel than mine, it was long and narrow; there was no telling how long it was. If she wasn't so practical she would have figured out the truth when she didn't seem to be going underground, but she figured that it was an illusion of the mind, and simply figured, that of course they were going underground.

Susan was continually trying to talk Lucy into turning around, she wasn't interested in adventuring through an old abandoned mine. She wasn't all that into adventuring in the first place, and the journey so far had drastically turned her off to anything of the sort ever since.

They were walking for a long time; just on the steep decline down under the ground that she guessed was there, "If we keep it up any longer, we're going to end up in the Underlands!" Susan said, shouting, trying to make herself heard.

"We're not going underground." Edmund absentmindedly called over his shoulder from ahead, "This is a magic mine,"

Suddenly feeling even more irritated than she ever thought it was possible to be, Susan muttered quietly, "Oh, yes, of course."

"A magic mine?" Lucy said, a smile spreading across her face, "Really?"

This was where Susan noticed something, it was dark, but not quite so dark for Lucy and Edmund to be holding hands to keep from stumbling around as they walked, but then, maybe they were just using that as an excuse.

Susan stood by what she had said the night before, she didn't think it was a good idea for her sister to be smitten with someone like Edmund, but then there wasn't much that she could do about it. She decided not to mention it again to Lucy, and simply give indifference in substitution to a blessing.

They continued on, walking through the mine, and in spite of herself, Susan began looking to the walls of the tunnel, and seeing something off about them. Were they…_glowing_? There seemed to be some sort of light coming off them. It was impossible, though. There was no reason that the walls of a mine should be glowing like that. Added to that, as much as she's wanted to sense a slow decline, as all mines would supposedly have, to lead to Bism or another similar place for the harvesting of gold or other sorts of gems, she couldn't in the very least.

Between magic that she had never thought of, or believed in, in the first place, and now a mine that didn't seem to go underground, she was being forced out of the logical world she had called home, and she didn't like it at all.

Truth be told, it scared her a little. However ashamed it made her to admit it.

Suddenly, and without warning, Lucy fell face forward into the dirt wall of the tunnel and onto the ground. The young girl was rather clumsy, she fell quite a lot, over air, out of trees, down staircases, and so it wasn't a very surprising occurrence. What was surprising was that when she stood up again, she had a long, thin cut down her forearm, the sleeve was torn and sticky blood stained the material around the tare.

Susan immediately went to her sister's side, making sure that she didn't break her nose in the fall or loosen any teeth.

"Why does this keep on happening to me?" Lucy murmured, somewhat amused, "I'm in a rut."

"What did you cut yourself on?" Edmund asked, confused, as he took her other arm and helped her to her feet.

"Look how clean that cut is," Susan observed, "That looks like it's from an arrow," after examining it more closely, she said incredulously, "It is. Look at the cut; see how it's a bit more triangular? That's what an arrow puncture wound looks like," she struggled to squat to the ground and waved her hand on the dirt, until her hand came in contact with a smooth, narrow, stick of some sort. Slowly coming up, she held the arrow up, the arrowhead was a sharp triangle, moist with Lucy's blood, and said, "Here it is, then. This thing looks ancient! Get a good look at it, the arrowhead. It's got a _design_ on it. It's so intricate, too. This must have been made by dwarves during King Frank II's reign…I can't believe this!" She was able to forget about being irritable for a moment; she was holding something thousands of years old, a true Old Narnian artifact, "What in the world is this doing _down here_?"

This was when they realized that they were finally into the main part of the mine, a large, dark, spacious area, as was to be expected originally. Still, of course, what had gone as expected in the last five months?

"This is an armory." Lucy incredulously observed, looking around at all of the shelves that would be for armor and weapons, aside for one flaw.

There wasn't anything on the shelves.

"Or, it would be if there was anything here," Edmund said, bemused.

"Wait," Lucy said, "I think I see something on that shelf…the far one, over here." Just as she spoke, she took off, out of sight.

Susan and Edmund simply stood there, like the last time Lucy had saw something and disappeared from their sight. It was high hopes that the turnout would be better than the last time.

A few moments passed, before Lucy's voice called out, "By the Lion!"

Susan went to catch up with her sister, asking, "What is it, Luce?"

Lucy was standing in front of a low shelf, the dark wood was dull, but well in tact. On the shelf, were the three most beautifully designed items, an ivory horn with a beautiful carving, a shiny silver dagger with a blood red ruby in the center of the handle, and then, a long silver sword that seemed to match the dagger, "Look! On this shelf, the dagger and the horn, from my dream! It's nearly all that I remember from it. There's a sword, too, although I don't remember it, if it was there at all," Lucy paused, "Su…I think that we should take them. I think that we're…supposed to."

This was the first time that Susan had ever heard Lucy suggest anything at all close to thievery, and it was a surprise. Yet, there wasn't a real reason not to take them, truly, it was an abandoned mine, after all. Still, just because they could, and probably get away with it doesn't mean that it's open for grabs. Susan said, uncertainly, "Why is that?"

"I don't really know," Lucy admitted, curling her fingers around the handle of the dagger, "Just trust me. Please?" She found the leather sheath in on the ground right next to her feet, and handed the horn to Susan, "You don't have a problem with making yourself heard, after all," she smiled nicely at her sister's confused look.

"Okay, now can we go back?" Susan asked, the horn had overpowered the diversion that the arrow provided to be, and she was back to wishing she was back where the world made sense, "There probably isn't anything else interesting down here."

A high, airy voice sounded right behind them, "Yah cannot get out that way."

All three pivoted on their heels to face the voice. There, right behind them, were three girl-like beings, only six inches tall, they had a sort of green glow to them and wings sticking out of their backs. Lucy knew immediately what they were.

Fairies.

The one standing in the middle, a blonde thing with pointed ears, who seemed to be the leader of the three said, "Yah found the magic horn. They say that whenever someone blows into it, help will come. Ahve course, the last owner of the thing did not keep it with hahm after hey got rescued from the tunnels, so perhaps hey was not too ahn-telligent. " The fairy's accent was simple enough to decipher, instead of I or it's sounds, she said ah, instead of you she said yah, and so on, it was rather interesting to listen to, especially accompanied by the fairy's high soprano, singsong voice.

Curiosity ruled Lucy, as she asked, "What do you mean?"

"People would leave their weapons behind in the tunnels, out of frahght, hunger, or madness. That arrow and the horn, however, came from before the tunnel was sealed. Ah remember hahm, ay handsome mahn. What wahs hey's name ah-gain?"

The fairy to the left of the blonde one, with raven black hair and a rather large nose, said, "Wilhelm," she didn't have any traces of the accent that the first had.

Susan and Lucy looked at each other, both wondering if they heard correctly, and the likelihood that the fairies were indeed talking about Susan's father. "What do you mean?" They both stuttered out in their own ways.

"He was the last one to be in here without it being sealed," the second said, "Everyone thought that they could handle the Underlands, but they all came to the mercy of the Emerald Witch."

Both Susan and Lucy's heart stopped for a brief moment, were the fairies truly talking about Wilhelm Pevensie? And if so, what could he have been up to in a mine leading to the Underlands?

Edmund whispered something sharply under his breath; there was little doubt that he was swearing again, but he was trying to keep a more civil tongue in front of the girls—or rather, the younger one, as of late.

The second fairy nodded vigorously, "So we sealed the tunnel. Now, this mine won't go under the topsoil, and no one can come in, or out."

The third stayed silent, but nodded along with the other two fairies, her eyes lingering on the two sisters.

"But we got in," Susan said, being the voice of reason.

The second fairy waved her hand, glittery dust falling off of it as if it were a saltshaker; "It's only in the entrance, where you're free to come in and out as you please. But once you pass that," she clicked her tongue, "let's just say that we do hope you are not claustrophobic."

"Ahve course," said the first one, "we ahre ahble to come and go ahs we please." She paused, and exchanged a glance with the other two fairies, "Would yah like to get out of here?"

"Ooh, let me!" said the second, excited for some reason.

"Nah, it was my ah-dea," the first pouted, lightly.

For the first time, the third spoke, in something that sounded almost like a Telmarine accent, "No, let me. It's my turn to be naughty!" She said, and pointed her finger at the three, and after a flash of green light everything was black.

_XXXXXXXXX_

_The fairy said that if was her turn to be naughty? What did that mean? They said that they were taking us out of the mine. I remain hopeful that, perhaps, they just sent us back to Beaversdam._

_I hope that's it, even though that's not all that naught, but perhaps fairies have an odd sense of humor._

_I squeeze my eyes shut, worried about what I might see. Where I am now, what happened from whatever the fairies did?_

_I don't feel like anything's wrong, and I can hear Susan and Edmund arguing…about me. Susan says, "What happened to her?" somewhat accusingly._

_What is the accusing him for?_

_I'm responsible for going into the mine, if she should be angry with anyone, she should be angry with me._

_I slowly open my eyes, to see the blackness of the night._

_How late is it? Wasn't it just morning a minute ago? Now it's nighttime?_

_How strange!_

_When my eyes adjust to the darkness, I notice that we're in a forest again. I see a yellow light in the distance, hovering in the air. What is it? I want to go and look at it._

_But, now I notice that my arm's sticky and wet._

_I know why Susan was freaking out._

_My arm's completely covered in blood._

**A/N: Okay, please review on your way out!**


	16. Dreams Explain All

**/!\: This chapter is w-e-i-r-d! Just be forewarned. A certain something may seem like it's happening, but it probably isn't, so just read it to the end please. Also, this is an infamous fill in the blank chapter. **

_In spite of myself, I let out a scream, but then my mouth clamps shut. How badly am I bleeding? The sleeve of my dress is a deep red. I can smell the blood, my blood. It's strong scent; it's like rusty iron, filling my nostrils._

_I grab a firm hold of my sleeve and yank it down, hoping to tear the sleeve away and see the damage. This old dress is better made than I thought it would be, and the seams stay in tact no matter how hard I pull. Susan's sitting behind me, and Edmund's next to me, none of us quite know what to do._

_I continue to pull on my sleeve; I just can't break it. Wait…the dagger! I grab it and begin to cut through the sleeve._

_"Be careful!" Susan says, she's probably afraid that I might accidentally stab myself and makes things worse._

_Once I disconnect the sleeve from the rest of my dress, I can barely look at my arm. It's as if the cut in my arm from the arrow wound has at least tripled in size, and blood is leaking heavily out of it._

_Why does this keep on happening?_

_I'm getting dizzy, how much blood have I lost so far? My head's heavy and I'm getting tired. It can't hurt to close my eyes for a minute or two…can it? Only for a brief moment, at least. After all, I'm so tired. After all, bleeding is a tiring ordeal._

_My head falls backward, and I feel my eyes roll into the back of my head._

XXXXXXXXX

Susan's eyes widened as her little sister's eyes rolled into the back of her head, and her body went limp. Susan had half a mind to slap Lucy across the face to try and get her to return to consciousness, but figured that it wouldn't do much, since Lucy was passed out from blood loss. "Wake up!" She commanded, "Lucy, just wake up!" She knew it was no use, that Lucy was out cold, but there wasn't anything else she could think of to do.

Edmund had a thin handful of material from the hem of his tunic in his hand tying it tightly onto Lucy's arm, "We've got to stop the bleeding," he said, mutedly.

Of course, that's what she could be doing to help. They had to stop the bleeding, that was all they could do. Stop the bleeding, which would hopefully help bring Lucy back to consciousness, and ultimately, save her life. No, she thought, don't think about that. Let's just focus on one thing; stopping the bleeding.

Susan ripped her skirt and proceeded to wrap it tightly around Lucy's arm, she bit her lip when blood continued to gush out of the stab wound, "How can it be bleeding like that?" she said incredulously, "There's no vital organ there! It's her arm!"

Edmund pressed down on the bandages, he grunted. He was getting Lucy's blood over his fingers, but not once did he remove the pressure from Lucy's wound. He stripped off his tunic and proceeded to press it over Lucy's wound and said, "Does it matter? Check her for a pulse."

Susan put her hand on Lucy's neck to check her heartbeat, "Why is it so slow? This is like she was shot in the stomach!" She pressed her hands down over Lucy's chest in attempt to get her heartbeat going normally again.

"We need to get help," Edmund said, before putting his clean hand on Lucy's cheek, "hang on, Lu," he whispered.

"We can't get help, she'll bleed to death if we leave her!" Susan said, eyeing the horn next to her on the ground, "Unless you mean the horn?" She eyed Edmund, who just nodded. "You know, I don't really trust those fairies!" She exclaimed, continuing to try and get Lucy's heartbeat back to normal, "The horn might not really send help, it probably does nothing…or make things worse!"

Suddenly turning sharp, Edmund snapped with fierce eyes, "That might be, but it's the only shot Lucy has."

Susan sighed, and put the horn to her lips.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The second that Lucy shut her eyes, it seemed like she was opening them again. She expected to wake up on the forest floor, arm covered in her own blood, with Susan and Edmund right beside her. She wasn't.

She found herself in a pleasant, but oddly familiar, room. It was spacious and airy, perfect for the summer months, but not quite so for the winter and autumn. To compensate for the space not quite being weather appropriate, dark blue curtains covered the golden-latched windows. There was an empty fireplace in one corner, with a tall stack of dusty logs to the left, the tall poker on the right. A narrow staircase was on the other end of the room, exactly opposite an open dining room. The room was furnished to compliment a family, a large velvet sofa sat against a wall and a soft rug in the center.

"Where am I?" Lucy asked, not quite expecting an answer, much less from a voice that she never thought she'd hear again.

"Home." The voice paused, and then seemed amused with itself, "In a way. I don't suppose you remember it in the least, you were so young when you lived here."

Lucy turned on her heels, to face the voice, "Mummy?" she whispered, unsure of if she heard correctly.

There was her mother, just as she looked in portraits that Lucy has seen of her, clad in a cream and red colored dress, red-brown hair back in a silvery hairnet, she smiled at her youngest daughter with that sort of love that only a mother can have.

Lucy ran to her mother and threw her arms around her waist. "Mummy!" she cried as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Helen ran her hand down Lucy's head, cooing in a voice that sounded to Lucy like milk and honey, "Look how big you've gotten! I swear, last time I saw you, you were scarcely four feet tall. I can only imagine how tall Susan's gotten!" She smiled, but then became solemn once again, as she said, "I suppose that's what happens when you die; the world goes on without you."

Taking a step back out of shock, Lucy asked, "Did I die?"

Seemingly surprised, Helen said, "No! Absolutely not; don't even think that. I thought that you knew when you were dreaming."

"So, I'm just dreaming?" Lucy lowered an eyebrow, she normally wouldn't want to know the absolute facts about things like this, but it was a relief that she wasn't dead. She wasn't afraid of death, in fact, she never gave much thought to it, there was too much to live for to think about death too, but the idea of being dead wasn't at all an idea that attracted her.

"Yes, love." Helen said, "But we don't have much time to dwell on that. Now, come here and sit down. We have a lot to talk about before you wake up. They're trying to bring you back, and I'm afraid that they'll be successful before we have much of a chance to talk about anything at all. We'll have some tea."

Lucy took a seat on the sofa next to her mother, thinking how odd the whole thing was, wondering what exactly her mother had to say to her, "They? That's Susan and Edmund, right?" she asked.

Helen nodded and said, "Yes, they're trying to wake you up, you've given them quite a scare, you know."

"I just got so tired…and so dizzy," Lucy said, she had to focus quite a bit, but was able to somewhat feel a little pressure on her arm and chest, she figured that was her body, while her mind was asleep, "why was I bleeding so much?"

Seemingly amused, Helen said, "Can you guess?"

Thinking hard, Lucy shrugged, "Well…it looked like the stab wound from the arrow that Su liked so much just grew…and looks like it bled a lot more than it should."

"It was the fairies. When one type of magic comes head on with another," Helen explained, "it can have devastating results. In this case, it opened up the cut, and made you bleed too much," she saw the look on her youngest daughter's face, "but nothing's going to happen. You're in good hands. Now, tell me about these nightmares you've been having, and sit up straight," while fixing two teacups on each side of a teapot that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Straightening her back, Lucy began, "Yes, Mum. Well, the first one started out with me and Susan walking through a forest and then it catches on fire…I suppose Susan's right on that, it was just me and my feelings on the fire, not remembering and trying to fill in the blanks," she paused, "yes, I think that's it. Do you, Mum?"

"It's not up to me to decide, but that seems like a good enough answer. Do you still take milk in your tea?"

"Yes, please," Lucy said, taking the cup that her mother offered her and sipped out of it. She couldn't feel anything, not the drink seeping down her throat, nor did it satisfy any thirst that built up in the back of Lucy's mouth.

"Go on," Helen said, smoothing her dress under her hands, it looked oddly similar to the way Susan fixed herself up.

"Well, then I saw Edmund. He was running…I didn't find out quite then but later—"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Helen kindly corrected Lucy, "Take it slowly and chronologically; it makes things easier to understand."

"Alright, then. He was just running. At first it was just an outline…but then he looked really close. And that was the day I met him. That was probably just for him coming, and my meeting him. But then, my nightmare changed in the second part…it stayed with the fire, is what I mean. But then I got sleepy, and I fell on the ground…then vines came up and tried to choke me, or something like that…then Edmund saved me. I said his name, and we hugged…" she blushed slightly, "Oh bother! I can't think of what in the world that would be!"

"You don't need to right now, go on."

"Well, a long time later, I had one where, I went into a fairytale book… and then I was in this," she shuddered in memory, "old barn where there were all these decaying corpses and then…a horse…ate me." She wrinkled her brow, "What on earth could that be about? I've always trusted animals, so maybe it's that someone I trusted isn't quite what he seemed, a few weeks later I learned about Edmund's past…but the corpses. I don't get that at all."

Helen sipped her tea, "Well, let's change the subject. So, what do you think about Susan and her decisions that got her where she is today?"

"Well," Lucy thought about it, she really hadn't thought that much on it other than when she first learned, "she's bound to be a great mother; she's practically raised me," she paused, worried that she might have offended her dead mother, but when Helen didn't seem offended, Lucy went on, "I think that, perhaps, she's blown things out of proportion. I don't think she had to even leave Cair Paravel, Peter would've married her in a second, I know it."

"Ah yes, Peter," Helen said, "If there were two people made for each other, it would be Susan and Peter. Most people fall in love unconventionally, like you." She paused, "You know you're in love with him, you also know that he loves you back." This wasn't a question; it was a statement.

Lucy looked at her hands in her lap, "I suppose that I do, but he won't let anything happen between us. It's annoying, sometimes."

"You can change that," Helen said, "He's always loved you, and he knows it. Give him awhile, and he'll come around. My husband did, and so will he."

"Mum? May I ask you something?" Lucy said, holding her breath. It was an awkward sort of thing to ask anyone, especially your mother, "Who's my father?"

Helen inhaled sharply, "Lucy, honey," she said, "You can't bring people back from the dead. You already knew everything we talked about today, I just helped you realize it. You don't know who, and that's the way I wanted it. It's a secret I took to the grave, with only two others knowing. I'm not going to tell you, because I don't want you knowing." She sighed, "I don't want you going and looking for him."

Wrinkling her brow, Lucy asked dubiously, "You didn't even like him, did you?"

Helen quieted, "I only tell you what you already know," she stood up, helped Lucy to her feet and kissed her daughter's forehead, "It's time to wake up, my valiant one. Lay down."

"I'm going to miss you, Mummy." Lucy said, lying down, as she began to feel pressure on her arm, and pain in her arm.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

_When my eyes flutter open, I find myself in a dark bedroom, with a white bandage is wrapped tightly around my forearm. It doesn't look like it's still bleeding; I wonder how it stopped, and where I am right now. I'm still weak, and fairly sore, my head rests on a worn-in and feathery pillow._

_I look around, the walls are made of rock, and it looks a lot like the house Susan and I lived in at Cair Paravel._

_Of course! We're at Tumnus's house! The light that I saw earlier tonight must have been the Lamppost, which means we're here! We finally made it!_

_I see Edmund, sitting by my bed, fast asleep._

_I smile at him._

_I take his hand in mine, and press his knuckles to my lips. I wonder if what Mum said in my dream was true, about my knowing that he loves me back?_

_Do I really know that?_

_Yes, I think I do._

_After all, I already knew everything Mum told me today._

**A/N: (cough) Hopefully I explained well enough in the actual story, but in case I didn't, Lucy was only dreaming that she was talking to her mother, she wasn't really talking to her; it was all in Lucy's imagination. It was the first thing that came to mind when I thought about how to explain the nightmares. Please review. **


	17. Mail For Peter

**A/N: Yeah, I know. Lame chapter name, if you can think of a better one, let me know!**

_As I look back on things, it all seems like some sort of dream. Everything does. Everything as in my entire life; the whole of my living memory has a dreamlike quality. It's as if I'm looking at it through water._

_In fact, the only thing that seems quite real is right now._

_I'm just laying here, one arm wrapped up in the bandage. I hear Susan chatting loudly downstairs with Tumnus, I can't quite make out what they're saying, but I know that they're talking about something._

_But that's just white noise in the background. Edmund's idle hand is in my free one. He's still asleep and my lips haven't left his knuckles. I haven't moved._

_It's nice, just lying here. Letting my mind wander…wander onto what exactly, I'm not sure, I'm not really thinking about much._

_Edmund stirs and I freeze._

_Well, I don't really freeze, since I wasn't moving in the first place. I do, however, move his hand._

_I wait for his eyes to open. His big, beautiful, brown eyes. He broadly grins at me and tells me that he was worried about me. And then, he tightens his grip on my hand, takes hold of it, and I can't believe it when he lifts my hand…was he awake a few seconds when I was doing the same? It seems like it, and next thing I know, he kisses my hand—twice._

_Needless to say, my hand's the only thing that feels quite alive right now._

_I finally feel like my life's a fairytale._

_The door creaks open, and he drops my hand. Suddenly, it does feel so alive anymore._

_"That'll be your sister," he grumbles._

_I have to laugh, especially when it turns out that he's right._

_XXXXXX_

Upon entering the bedroom, Susan gave a brief crooked smile, and proceeded to cross the room to talk to Lucy. It was a little odd, seeing her sister lying in bed like that, looking so weak. Lucy's face was pale from all the blood she had lost. Susan recalled all the blood; she hadn't seen so much in, maybe, eight years. Even then, eight years ago, all the blood was mostly dried from the intense heat of the fire. Back earlier that night, it was heavy, wet, and the stench was enough to make anyone want to vomit.

Though, perhaps, what made it all the more sickening was the knowledge that the blood was flowing out of her sister, the one person she could count on standing beside her no matter what, no obligations from the government could change that. And, just four hours earlier, her little sister had almost died from blood loss.

It was an enormous leap of faith for Susan to just blow on the horn in the first place. She barely believed that it would work. But when Edmund put it so blatantly, 'it's the only chance she's got' something within Susan snapped, and she knew he was right. The only chance Lucy had had for survival was sitting on the chance that the horn truly worked, and would indeed send help for them.

Perhaps thinking about that made Susan feel a little guilty, she sat down on the foot of Lucy's bed, "How're you holding up?" she asked.

"Fine," Lucy said pleasantly, "sore and a little tired, but otherwise fine."

"That's good," Susan nodded. "So, how long have you been awake? Edmund was supposed to tell us when you woke up."

"She just woke up!" Edmund said, defensively. "Or, well, she was awake when I woke up."

"You were sleeping when you were supposed to be keeping an eye on Lucy?" Susan was, truthfully, a little amused. It was, after all, his idea to keep an eye on Lucy to make sure she didn't start seizing or something. The physician they called in said that it wouldn't be necessary, but Edmund insisted doing it, and it turned out that he ended up sleeping? Leave it to a man to do something like that.

"It's like two in the morning," Edmund grumbled, "I'm tired."

"I think it's later than that," Lucy said, craning her neck to see the window on the opposite wall. "The sun's coming up."

Susan caught sight of the bright sun peeking out from behind the hills and trees. There wasn't anything to capture the early morning sunlight in the autumn air. On the Eastern Sea there was always a sort of mirroring reflection bouncing off from the sea into the air, sparkling and shimmering like stars in the night sky. But, in the Western Wood, there was nothing but trees to catch the upcoming sunlight on their pine boughs; it didn't reflect back. It just stood there, indifferent to the beautiful sunlight, which warmed up the freezing air so that it would be just above chilly.

Peter would be watching the beautiful waterside sunrise, if they didn't already have him up and doing drills. Susan couldn't help but wonder if he had gotten her letter yet, as well as what his reaction would be. Well, naturally, he would be shocked, that was a given. But, beyond that, there were a million other ways that it was possible for Peter to react.

Susan wasn't an imaginative person, so she couldn't think of the ways that Peter would react in detail other than the two extremes that had crept into her mind from the beginning.

She had been sewing earlier, and she held the scrappy cloth she had been trying to sew into a suitable baby sleepwear in her hand. About halfway finished, she noted that the stitches were rather flimsy and far apart, but it was the first time she had ever attempted to sew something from scratch. Even though the thing was somewhat sloppily made, it was still rather cute, as most things made for babies are.

Apprehensively, Susan held the scrappy nightshirt to her chest. For some reason, it made her feel closer to Peter.

Her Peter.

XXXXXX

A few days after Susan had wondered whether or not Peter had gotten the letter, the mail had come to the grassy island where the knights were training.

Peter wasn't expecting to get mail, since he hadn't gotten a letter yet, and was walking down the pathway up to the tents, speaking with Sir Reepicheep, one of the higher command knights that was still forced to go on these year-long training ordeals, though, the Mouse seemed to enjoy it much more than most of the knights. Peter wasn't expecting to hear his named called in the gravelly voice from the centaur mail carrier, and yet, it rang out clear as day, "Sir Peter?"

He excused himself from Sir Reepicheep (who was right in the middle of a speech about how they shouldn't get so much down time that could be used for valuable training exercises) and took himself away onto a grassy, heather-covered hill. Looking down onto all the others, specks on the main area, rushing to get their mail or otherwise chatting up all the others. These training things are a rather good experience, Peter thought to himself, and when I come back to the mainland to see Susan, I'll have fond memories of this place, and all the other knights. It wasn't necessarily summer camp, but it did give the knights chances to get closer to one another with all the time that they spent together.

Peter leaned up against the rough bark of a tree with leaves that were just beginning to lose their green color, to open up room for the yellows, oranges, and reds. He looked at the handwriting on the parchment envelope in his hand; it was definitely Susan's. A mixture of excitement and apprehension filled his nerves when he looked at the seal. It looked like one of those cheap kinds they have sitting around post offices for those without seals of their own. It was odd, because Susan had a seal of her own, and that definitely wasn't it, but the handwriting was Susan's, so maybe she had just forgotten to seal it at home and had to use the seal at the post office.

He hoped that Susan would explain why she hadn't been writing, or just explain anything quite frankly. He wanted to hear her voice again so badly, if he couldn't have that, at least he could finally get to read her handwriting. Abruptly, he broke the envelope.

At first, he let a small smile sit on his lips, as he read Susan's acrobatic penmanship that curved and danced across the page, as it said, "Dear Peter,"

His smile immediately vanished from his face, even before he got to the bulk of it. He read, "There really isn't any easy way to tell you this, and I should just come out with it, but I'm not really sure how to. Actually, the reason I haven't written is because I'm not exactly sure the best way to tell you this."

Peter froze, the first thing that came to his head was that Susan was breaking up with him. She couldn't be, could she? Why, in the last twenty-four hours before he had left for the Lone Islands, Susan had told him that she loved him more than she ever had before, or at least it seemed that way. Peter didn't keep count, but he was only human. He already remembered birthdays and listened to her, did he really have to keep count of things?

Even though he was a bit worried that that would be indeed what it was, he read more, "Excuse me if I'm babbling, I'm just nervous. Anyone would be in my situation, really. Alright, here goes; I'm pregnant."

He blinked. Pregnant? As in they were going to have a baby? A baby as in…a baby?! He had never before considered getting Susan pregnant. It wasn't quite necessary to say that he felt unbelievably stupid, of course he should have been more careful, it was always a possibility to get her pregnant, why hadn't he realized it more so earlier? He was always the protective sort, so why did he leave Susan in this situation? He felt like it was his fault entirely.

The letter resumed: "Well, as you know, having a baby before marriage is dangerous socially, so I've decided to move away from Cair Paravel, to the West, where you're reputation won't be damaged to the point of, perhaps, losing your place in the army."

Reputation? Was she kidding? He got her pregnant, and what she was concerned about was his reputation? She needed to sort out her priorities.

He continued reading, "Lucy and I are headed to Tumnus's house to live until the baby is born and I have some sort of sense of direction for the rest of my life. I'm not entirely sure when, but the baby's due sometime in the spring, if you'd like to come. But, if you don't want to, if you want to go on living in Cair Paravel, not weighed down by the baby, or me, I'll understand. You have complete freedom to leave if you'd like, after all, you aren't the one who has to carry it for nine months."

Again, Peter had to pause out of disbelief, did Susan really expect him to just leaver her and their baby flat? Although Susan was able to take care of herself for the most part, the whole idea was like throwing them to the wolves. It might as well be, if he didn't know where they were, and that they were safe. He needed to know. For the longest time he wasn't wondering if Susan was all right, he just thought that she was still in court and obviously safe, but now he was wondering where she was, and what was going on. He also felt a sort of attachment to the baby, although he hadn't met his son or daughter yet, he was worried for his or her safety, of course, Susan could take care of them both, but he needed to know. He couldn't just guess and hope for the best.

The letter even went on from there, it explained most of the journey, most of which made Peter feel really uncomfortable, what in the name of Aslan was a pregnant woman doing all that for? But, he knew of Maugrim, a ruthless wolf leader of a pack that the Narnian army had been trying to track for years. It made him scared for Susan, but thankful that she, the baby, Lucy, and the other guy who he didn't know, nor truthfully care that much about, got out of it relatively unscathed.

He didn't see why any of it was necessary, though. If Susan had written him sooner, he would've gone back to the mainland and married her in a second. Now, well, they were too far along in the training to get leave anytime for another two weeks, at least.

Peter finished reading the letter; "I do think about you all the time. I don't think it's possible for anyone to love someone as much as I love you. I'll say good-bye and, hopefully, I'll be able to say it again. I love you, Susan"

Not matter what he just learned about what he had done to Susan, he couldn't help but appreciate her flourishing signature.

Then it all came back, he had got Susan pregnant. They were going to be parents! They were too young, way too young. Well, Peter thought, there's nothing we can do about that now.

Not necessarily, Peter found himself thinking again, there's one thing I can do.

He had to get leave. He'd quit the arm, he'd go on desk duty, he'd do anything. He'd even go AWOL for Susan; he'd break the law for her. Though, in the long run, that probably would just make things worse, but he'd be willing to, if need be.

Ultimately, he had to fix what he started. He'd ask Susan to marry him, they'd have a family, and hopefully things would turn out well for them.

Peter knew, not only was it the right thing to do, but he wanted to marry Susan. It wasn't only to save her from the troubles and humiliation that being a single mother came with that she didn't deserve, he wanted to.

He really wanted to.

XXXXXXXXX

Feeling her growing belly with her fingertips, Susan exhaled loudly. They were finally in their destination, so why was it that she didn't feel like anything was better, or at least different?

For so long she had been telling herself to deal with everything once she got to Tumnus's. Well, she was there, and she couldn't think of anything to worry about.

Of course that's the way things would work out, before she wanted to think about things, she couldn't help but think about things, and when she could, she couldn't think of anything to think about. Now, on top of everything she just gave herself a headache.

Figures.

Susan was trying to get some sleep, but she found it a bit difficult with Edmund and Lucy in the next room, laughing as if they're having the best time in the world. Susan didn't want to rain on their parade, but was it too much to ask them to quiet down so she could get some sleep? She didn't think it was, besides, she had been up all night.

So, using her hands to lift herself out of bed (it was getting harder and harder for her to get up after sitting or laying down) and left her room to stand in the doorway of Lucy's. "Hey, would you mind keeping it down? I'm trying to get some sleep. Please just be quiet."

Susan couldn't help but feel a little bitter on this subject, for the next few years, she'd have to get up at all hours of the night to take care of the baby; she couldn't just ask her baby to be quiet, like she could with her sister. Oh no, she thought, I'll never get a decent night's sleep again.

_XXXXXXXX_

_Oops. Were we keeping Susan up?_

_Sorry, Su, I suppose we can be a little quieter._

_It's just that Edmund can make me smile and laugh so easily._

_It's a little funny, but I think Edmund and I are flirting with each other right now._

_I'm not exactly sure that's what we're doing, but it seems like it, from what I've seen from Susan._

_My relationship with Ed has never been normal, so it's odd to just be flirting like normal people. But, I think I like it, if that's even what we're doing._

_I bite my lip and rock backward onto my arm that isn't in a sling and…_

_Did Edmund just say that he thinks that I'm pretty?_

_It seems to be alluding to that, anyway._

_Me? Pretty? Wow. No one has ever called me pretty, the closest I've ever gotten to that is Tumnus saying I look like Mum. But I've never gotten any attention from my own looks before._

_Oh no, I'm blushing like crazy, and I think I'm laughing too._

_I want to tell him that I love him. I really want to, but what if he runs away again? I don't think I could handle it if he left me again._

_It would break my heart, so I keep my mouth shut._

_But I think I'm dying a little anyway._

**A/N: Sorry for the late update. I had to deal with nearly my entire family at my house for about a week to deal with my birthday and the fair (little sister shows her horse, older brother show's his chinchilla) then I got my schedule for the school year so, obviously, I had to compare schedules with my friends, and then PRIDE (the anti-drug/anti-violence team I'm a member of at school) started meetings for this year and (pants) I really haven't been able to write recently. But I hope you liked the update anyway!**


	18. Firewood

_There's a physician that lives a few miles south of the Lamppost who looked over Susan yesterday. He looked at my arm again too, and announced that my arm was healed aside from my wrist that's always been and always will be twisted, but he mostly looked over Susan. Thankfully she's doing well, though the physician said that she's bigger than she should be now, at five months, so there's a possibility that she may be having twins! Susan hopes, near the point to praying about it, that the physician was mistaken, when I asked why she said that giving birth is dangerous and difficult enough with only one. I think that was her way of telling me that she's scared. Truth be told, I haven't really thought that much about what Su's going to feel like when she goes into labor, it never crossed my mind. It must hurt, but I can't really think about how. I wonder how Susan's going to react to it? She's not wimpy when it comes to pain, but she's not exactly thick-skinned either. I'll find out when the time comes though; I have to be in the room since I've been asked to be the midwife._

_I have absolutely no clue at the moment how to help someone give birth, I've been given numerous books on the subject, and so far, all I know about my important job is that I've got to make sure Susan gets to a bed as soon as she can once she begins labor, make sure there's water boiling and some rags, and help her along the way until the physician gets here._

_As time starts to pass, we all develop a schedule of sorts here at Tumnus's. Just like when Susan and I were living in Cair Paravel, we've separated the cooking jobs between the two of us, we figure it's the least that we can do for Tumnus since he's, once again, had the heart to take us in. Every other day it's supposed to be my turn to cook supper and breakfast, but sometimes I decide to let Susan rest while it's her turn to cook, I don't think that she should be in the intense heat that cooking often gives, I don't want her or the baby to get hurt._

_Every day I do a bit of cleaning here and there, sweeping mostly, but sometimes I dust or mop and make the beds. Another thing that's gotten into my everyday schedule is going on a walk with Susan. Today, however, I'm not doing that._

_Today, Susan's going on the walk on her own since she sent Edmund and me out to gather firewood. The air's nippy, and I'm chilly even under a wintertime cloak. It should start snowing either today, tomorrow, or next week, or so Edmund and Tumnus tell me. Winters back East aren't as long or as cold as the ones here in the West; winters in the West are almost infamous to the rest of the country. I can't say I'm exactly looking forward to the cold or gloom that winter tends to bring, but it's not all bad, there's ice skating, snowball fights, and of course, Christmas, though that's a couple of months away, I think it might be fun for winter to last a little longer than I'm used to._

_I shuffle through the underbrush of the forest, as I look on the ground for dead branches or sticks to add to the pile in my arms that's growing handsomely, and the air's so cold I can nearly see my breath. My teeth are chattering so I hum a little tune to keep my mind off of it, until I feel a hand grab my own._

I look over at Edmund quizzically, and he grins broadly. I bite my lip, and he starts pulling on my hand. My handsome pile of firewood falls to the forest floor as Edmund pulls me out of sight.

XXXXXXXX

Susan was outside when the first snow of the season fell that day. The air was cold as the fallen leaves swayed unenthusiastically in the nippy breeze. The air hit her cheekbones as she walked—or rather, waddled (she was getting rather huge, and it affected the way she walked) back home.

She was rather upset, Lucy hadn't gone on the walk with her that day, and when she stopped by to visit a neighbor that she had grown rather fond of in her week or so in the west, there were a few women there that she'd never met before, and probably could have gone a long while without meeting. They introduced themselves as if they were the most important women around, and that they were visiting Polly Plummer to make sure she was keeping all right with her illness. The liars, they just wanted a chance to gossip, or so it seemed. Susan was visiting Polly because she liked her company, both women were logical and reasonable, and they tended to see eye to eye.

When Susan was first told of Polly's story she had the uncanny feeling that she had heard it before very briefly. Polly had had a good life, it seemed, her family was a bit overbearing, but she had gotten engaged to a young professor in the University of Narnia, but then she had gotten a terminal illness. She had removed herself from her previous life expecting to only live a year or so longer, but ended up living forty years more. Susan could relate to Polly on that ground, she too had left her previous life in an attempt to make things easier for her loved one.

When Susan had stepped into Polly's house, she was nearly stampeded by three other women, who claimed to be there for the same reason she was, but they were far too concerned with their gossiping to actually help the old woman with anything.

"It must be so great to be having a baby," one, a calico cat, had said to Susan, nearly cooing.

A faun woman chimed in, "Your husband must be excited."

Susan contracted her face and tried to think of a way to best say this, eventually, she muttered, "I'm not exactly married…"

The cat and faun exchanged glances, a third woman (who greatly resembled a rubber chicken in a dress) had said, with a fake sort of sympathy in her voice, "We all make mistakes, dear. It just goes to show that someone calling you beautiful doesn't really man that they truly love you, doesn't it?"

Susan had wanted to slap these women across the face. Instead, she merely replied coolly, "The knights are in the Lone Islands right now, otherwise I would've been married months ago." Of course, she didn't quite know that for sure, but it was a good bluff either way.

The cat said, "Chivalry might be a thing with knights, but I doubt it counts after just one night."

Susan was caught dumbstruck by these comments; they had absolutely no right to say those things! Wasn't the on of the main reasons she left Cair Paravel in the first place was to avoid gossips like them?

Thankfully, an elderly voice sounded from the back room, "If my guests are more interested in stabbing each other behind the back in front of each other, I might as well hand you all a decent knife." A sickly-looking woman doubled over a cane came staggering out from the back room. Her skin was translucent and her face sallow and gaunt, her best feature being white hair so thin you could see her scalp. This, of course, was Polly Plummer. "Come into the kitchen Susan," she said. "I need some help opening my medicine."

Susan thankfully left the room, "That was pleasant," she muttered darkly once behind the closed doors of Polly's tiny kitchen.

"Just ignore them. They think that just because they stop by once a week to see an old dying woman and do other things that people see as good it gives them the excuse to be rude."

Susan nodded as she uncorked the bottle of medicine and handed it to Polly, "It's definitely not becoming on them," she agreed.

Polly had thrown her head back to take the liquid medicine before saying, "It's not becoming on anyone."

Obviously, it wasn't her conversation with Polly that had gotten Susan upset as she waddled home; it was the other women's comments. She knew she shouldn't let people's rash assumptions bother her, people would think what they will, but what made it hurt was because trying to escape ruthless gossips was one of her reasons for leaving Cair Paravel, it made the whole journey seem a little pointless, although, obviously, it wasn't pointless; Peter still had an out if he wanted to take it.

Susan was so deep in thought that she barely noticed when fluffy snowflakes began to fall from the sky in little circular flurries, like mini tornadoes. She might not have noticed at all if she hadn't inhaled the frozen liquid up her nose.

Winter wasn't Susan's favorite season, just as it wasn't Lucy's, but she did have a rather fond memory of the last winter, making a large snow-faun in the yard with Lucy and sharing a hot drink with Peter while cuddling under an afghan in front of the fireplace.

She continued to head back home, one hand on her stomach, as she went on inhaling snowflakes and waddling through the forest underbrush that was beginning to be sprinkled with snow.

It wasn't long before she reached the cave-like exterior of Tumnus's house, where she had begun to call home. She stepped through the doorway, the house was dark aside from the dimly-lit windows, the firewood she had sent Lucy and Edmund to gather hours earlier wasn't in the pile next to the fireplace, the kitchen was empty, and the only real sign of life was Tumnus sitting in a chair, sipping tea and reading a book.

Announcing her arrival, Susan draped her mossy green cloak over her arm as she shuffled over to Tumnus. As she lowered herself into a chair next to him, she caught a glimpse of the golden inked title; 'Diary'

Susan wasn't very curious, and she didn't bother to ask why he was reading from a diary, rather than writing in one, instead she asked, "Has Lu come back yet?"

Tumnus marked his page and sat the diary on his furry knees, "No," he said, "I haven't seen her since you had her and Edmund go off to get firewood."

"That was hours ago. I suppose she's gotten herself into some sort of mischief." It was times like that that made Susan almost forget how much time had passed.

There were probably hundreds of times before that so resembled this: Susan and Tumnus sitting in the living room, wondering whatever had become of Lucy. Of course, it was obviously not old times; things had changed a great deal since then. Susan was pregnant. That alone was enough to turn both their lives upside-down, even without all the other things she had come across, fairytales turning into real life, evil creatures needing her blood for their Eternal Winter, and, Lucy falling in love. All of that made things a lot more interesting, she had to admit, but she didn't really want things to be more interesting. She was already going to be a mother—possibly of two, wasn't that interesting enough alone?

Apparently not.

XXXXXXXXXX

At first, Susan wasn't all that worried that Lucy wasn't back in the house. Why should she be? Lucy was fourteen, and could take care of herself for the most part, and it wasn't as if she was all alone, Edmund was with her. But they still weren't back when afternoon turned into evening, and evening turned to night, Susan was beginning to get restless. Where were they? It doesn't take that long to gather firewood.

She was left with nothing else to do but work on her sewing whilst wondering what was keeping her little sister so long. Not being the most imaginative person in the world, she couldn't think of anything realistic enough to suit Lucy's personality.

Just then, the door swung open. It was pitch black outside, in high contrast to the white snow falling from the sky and blowing into the doorway. Lucy was already inside, hanging up her cloak on the peg as Edmund stomped his feet noisily in attempt to get the snow off his boots. "Shh!" Lucy whispered, "You might wake them."

Susan half wanted to ask where they've been and what they were doing all day, since it obviously wasn't picking up firewood (seeing as they had no wood in their arms) but she thought better of it. Since when was it her business to know every little thing Lucy did? Instead, she said, startling both Edmund and Lucy who, apparently, thought that everyone was asleep, "Where's the firewood?"

"Firewood?" Lucy chirped, wide-eyed, as if she were just caught red-handed stealing from the Tisroc of Calormen.

"Yes," Susan said, "firewood. You know, what you two were supposed to be gathering all day?"

Lucy seemed lost for words, so Edmund intervened. With a rather impish grin slapped across his face he said, "There wasn't any."

Okay, since right then it was Susan's business to know everything Lucy did, or did that day, at least.

Lucy cupped her hands over her mouth, obviously trying to hide a smile, as Susan said, rather unimpressed, "There wasn't any firewood in a forest?"

"I know," Edmund said. "Weird, right?"

"Why do I get the feeling that you aren't exactly telling the truth?"

Edmund shrugged. "I'm going to bed. Good night," he said as he took up the stairs, pausing at the top of them to wave to Lucy, who waved back.

"Alright," Susan said, turning to Lucy, "what was all that about?"

"All what?" Lucy asked, genuinely confused.

"No firewood?"

"Oh, well, we got firewood…but we dropped it. I think there's some left over in the kitchen, here I'll go and grab—" she explained before she got cut off.

"Forget the firewood!" Susan nearly yelled, "What were you two doing all day?"

Opening and closing her mouth several times, Lucy looked a bit lost for words, eventually she said, "Well…Ed was just trying to be funny with that."

Repeating herself, Susan said, trying to be patient, "What were you two doing all day?"

"Lots of things," was Lucy's reply, as she sat down on a chair next to Susan.

"Are you being vague?" Susan blinked in surprise, if there was one thing her sister never was, it was vague.

"Not on purpose! If I am it's only because I'm tired, and it really was a long day. We just," she paused to think, "walked and talked, played games like tag, hide and seek, blind centaur's bluff. There isn't anything interesting to tell you. Really, there isn't."

Deciding to believe her sister's story, she had no reason not to, after all, she simply said, "Just promise me something will you?"

Lucy made a grunting noise as she rubbed her hands together to warm their pinkish quality.

"Be careful." Susan said, making her sister look up out of confusion. Susan went on, "You're not a little girl anymore. There's going to be a time when you're going to have to choose whether or not to keep your innocence, and you have to be careful because you never can get it back. That time's going to come sooner than you think. I know it did for me."

"Su," Lucy spoke slowly, as if she wasn't sure exactly what to say, "Ed and I…we haven't…we haven't even kissed…I'm only fourteen…I-I don't think that I should have to worry about that."

"I know," Susan sighed. "I just want to let you know how I feel about it. But, just promise me, when you decide to give your innocence up, you'll know what you're doing. It's such a huge part of you, and you can't get it back…at least not in the same way. Promise me?"

Lucy nodded, "I promise."

XXXXXX

_Whoa there, Susan. Don't you think you're getting a little ahead of yourself with that?_

_I mean, yes, eventually I knew that I'd be getting that talk, but not now of all times._

_I haven't even begun to think about anything of the sort yet!_

_I suppose she's just looking out for me, making sure that I don't follow suit with her and get pregnant any time soon, and I am thankful that she cares enough about me to talk to me about tough topics, but it was still really awkward for me._

_But, if it were I, I'd probably want her to know the same thing, I suppose._

_We're sisters, we look out for each other, it's what we do._


	19. Christmas

**A/N: School starts tomorrow...(insert a crying VampyKaee23 here)**

_There's a constant ticking noise coming from the small clock in the hallway. It's so small, and yet the ticking is so loud. I've got sixty seconds to go…_

_I hear the cold December wind hit the walls of the house. It's pretty bad out there, or so it sounds, but I'm thankful to be inside the stone walls and under the thick covers, but I can't help but feel sorry for everybody out there who has no walls to be behind, oh, I hope they're alright tonight, it's such an inconvenient night for a blizzard too, we haven't had such a bad one all winter, though it's only been going on for two months…_

_I've got forty-five seconds to wait…_

_I hope that everyone's all right, not freezing to death in the blizzard. My mind drifts back to my gypsy friends that I met, oh! How long ago that all seems! I wonder how they are holding up? Digory, Caspian, Aravis, all of them. They were going towards the east; perhaps the weather is calm there. I'd like to think so. _

_Twenty-five seconds. _

_I get out of bed, and the coldness of the room hits me like a bucket of ice water. I shiver. I wrap a robe around myself, but I can't help still feeling cold. _

_Twenty seconds. _

_I look out of the small window in my bedroom, it really is small, just a little window cut through the rock. The moon in the sky is so brilliantly white; it almost hurts my eyes to look at it. Normally, the sky is filled with stars up to capacity, but tonight, it's all black. I wonder where they've gone, what they're up to. Are they celebrating, too? The clouds are the puffiest I've ever seen them. It's beautiful._

_Ten seconds to go. _

_People have told me that I view the world through child's eyes. I can't think how this could possibly be a bad thing, what could be bad about finding something wonderful or good in most things you see? I'll never get tired at looking at the night sky; it's never the same, after all. The night sky varies with the seasons, the summer night sky is so different from the winter sky, and the autumn is varied from the spring. I exhale, noticing my visible breath rise out the hole that I call a window and into the blackness that is tonight. _

_Three seconds…two…and one. I smile, my reasons for staying up until midnight comes back to me. _

_It's Christmas day. _

XXXXXX

Susan found herself waking up to a distinctive kicking feeling on the inside of her stomach. She sighed, not quite wanting to wake up just yet, "Please let mummy sleep for a few more minutes," she mumbled, immediately feeling rather stupid for talking to an unborn person like she or he could understand her. Either way, from the other side of her stomach came the same kicking feeling once again, "All right, all right. I'll get up."

She slowly, and clumsily rose onto her feet from her bed, crossing the room, she proceeded to splash some cold and stale water onto her face from the night before, and rub it over her eyes, as to wake her up entirely.

She was shivering when she finally rubbed the cold water off her cheeks and traded the washcloth for a hairbrush as she swiped it through her hair quickly, taking out all the snarls that gathered at night.

It was then that she realized what day it was. Christmas morning. The thing about Susan and Christmas was that she never truly had had a memorable Christmas in her life. She couldn't think of quite anything memorable happening on that day in the last eighteen years of her life.

There was a knock at the door a second after Susan had pulled her purple maternity gown over her head and smoothed it under her hands, and almost instantly after the knock, an anxious-looking Lucy came through the door, closing it abruptly behind her.

"What's up?" Susan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing. Nothing at all. Why do you think that something's up? Nothing's up." Lucy lied franticly. It was obvious to Susan whenever her sister was lying, mostly because she was so awful at it from lack of practice.

"You're really jumpy," Susan stated the obvious, before shuffling over to her bed to make it.

"Am I? I guess I'm just…excited! Yes…that must be it. Just call me Lucy Pevensie the Excited girl…" she paused, eyes darting around the room, "Excited because of it being Christmas, of course. Nothing else to get excited about, after all. Yeah…just a normal holiday here at Tumnus's." She let out a weak laugh after that, before piping randomly, "Did you know there was a snowstorm last night?"

"Yes," Susan said slowly, wondering what was wrong with her little sister, "I heard it. Say, should we get down to the kitchen and start working on Christmas dinner now, before everything else starts up?"

Lucy darted to block the door, "Why would we want to do that now? We've got all day after all…"

Just then, another knock came to the door, and Edmund's voice sounded from behind it, "The fire's going, you two can come down now."

Only from watching her little sister very closely, was Susan able to tell that Lucy mouthed or whispered very softly, something very much like, _was that the signal?_ Before turning back to Susan, saying, "Well, it's never too early to start on Christmas dinner, come on!"

Something very, very fishy was going on, Susan could tell, what exactly, she didn't know. "Okay," she said, "What's going on here?"

"You'll see!" Lucy said in an almost giddy, singsong sort of 'I know something you don't know,' tone of voice that wouldn't suit her personality at all, if not for the obvious air of 'you're going to love this,' coming from her smile.

Susan continued to be confused for the rest of the morning, as she and Lucy cooked and baked with some help from Tumnus for their supper. One thing that confused her more than anything else, was the rations, yes, Susan was eating more than she used to, but she wasn't eating enough for two more people! An extra serving was all she ever helped herself with, not two! When she addressed this, all Lucy said, in that same non-Lucy-esque tone of voice was, "You'll see."

It wasn't only Lucy who was acting strangely, Tumnus seemed oddly secretive as well, and even Edmund, who normally ignored Susan whenever he didn't have anything to say to her, was acting oddly fishy. Why did everyone refuse to just let her in on what was going on?

For the rest of the morning, Susan and Lucy spent most of their time in the kitchen, cooking venison and rabbit (obviously from a non-talking stag and rabbit) and baking pies, puddings, and cakes. Susan kept on taking breaks from the heat of the kitchen, but she would come back to help pull her weight.

When all the cooking and baking was done, and all the foods were cooling, they all decided to sit down and open some presents. Everyone got two things, one from the others living with them, and the other from Father Christmas.

After Susan eased herself onto a chair and shuffled around for a second in her seat to make herself comfortable, they handed Tumnus two brown paper packages tied with string, making him the first one to open his gifts. "I wonder what this could be?" he asked, pulling on the strings, revealing a nice pink umbrella wrapped up in a warm-looking red scarf, "Thank you girls!" he said, wrapping the scarf around his neck and opening the umbrella, making it fan out in front of him, "just what I asked for!"

Tumnus sat his gifts from Susan and Lucy off to the side, as he opened his gift from Father Christmas; a new picture frame, just the right size for the painting of Tumnus's late father. The faun smiled fondly at his second gift, as he replaced the old frame with the newer, shinier, one.

Susan patted her stomach thoughtfully, she remembered past years, when Lucy would drag her downstairs at five in the morning, and then exclaim as if she were the happiest person in the world, just from the idea, "Presents!" Susan missed those days.

It was somewhat comforting to know that one thing didn't change, since Lucy was still standing up in the middle of the room, passing everyone their gifts, "Ed?" she asked, "you want to go next?"

Edmund had stationed himself on a stool in the back of the room, beside a large door that led into the cellar, "I have presents?" He asked, as if it were an idea that he never had considered before.

"Of course!" Lucy said, handing him two packages, one from them, and one from Father Christmas, "You don't think we'd forget about you, do you?"

Edmund shrugged, "Thanks," he said softly. Susan noticed the way he was looking at Lucy, he looked like she was the only other person in the room, in the world, and like he wanted to kiss her, but he looked afraid that if he started he'd never be able to stop.

Seeing two people look at each other that way that Edmund and Lucy looked at each other made Susan miss Peter more than before. She missed the way he looked at her, similar to other looks of people in love (or infatuation, which was what Susan counted her sister's feelings as) gave, but with a little twist that was all his own, and that made it special. Susan missed the way Peter kissed her good-night, his warm breath hanging over her lips for a second, before the gap was closed, and he murmured, "Good night, I love you."

To put it in short, Susan missed everything about Peter; she wished he would be there with her at that very moment.

She had been thinking too much, so that she didn't actually watch Edmund open his gifts, which was fine, she knew that he got maple syrup candy and some money from them, and she could just tell from looking at the small pile at his feet that Father Christmas left him a new sheath for the sword he lifted from the mine.

It was Lucy's turn after that. As always, the girl opened her gifts in wide-eyed wonder as she tore through the paper, unlike everyone else, who untied the strings and did it neatly, and looked at her gift, first one was a new quill, a fine golden red color unlike one that any of the four had seen before, "I think it's phoenix," Lucy said, turning the quill over in her fingers.

Susan smiled, not unkindly, "Lu, I don't think phoenixes really give their feathers for quills." She had never heard of it before, why should they? It was difficult to discover where phoenixes lived, since they were constantly migrating, but besides that, phoenixes weren't dumb beasts, they were (supposedly) kind, noble creatures, dedicated to their faith in Aslan. Why would anyone make a quill out of the feather of a phoenix?

"But, look!" Lucy said, holding up the golden quill to the light. Immediately, it caught fire. Susan let out a gasp and flinched backward.

There was a sort of odd irony in seeing Lucy holding up a flaming feather in her twisted hand, staring at it in fascination. The flame was bright yellow, not taunting of the past, but a nearly happy sort of look. The fire seemed to practically say, "I promise not to hurt you," it was an odd feeling to see a fire like that.

Lucy inhaled sharply and blew out the feather with one blow, it returned, as it was before, golden red, in perfect shape, in fact, it looked shinier and more golden than before. "Thank you, Father Christmas," Lucy said softly, setting the quill on the end table beside the chair she was sitting in.

Her other gift was a new violin of the same simple variety that the gypsies used. Attempting to play a chord or two, Lucy lifted the instrument to her neck, and holding the one neck, she played something; most of the notes came out sour. A second try, no better, but on the third, all her years of violin practice seemed to show up, as she played a few lines from a traditional folk song, "Thanks everybody!" she said, setting it down, "Susan's turn!"

Everyone had the same grin on that they had earlier that day, as Susan cautiously pulled the strings and unfolded the paper to her gifts; both were cradles. They didn't look new, but refurbished from old, nearly ancient-looking cradles.

Susan had long since come to terms with the idea that she was having twins. It did scare her, though. After all, she now had two living beings inside of her, two parasites. She wasn't sure exactly how she felt about the babies, even though she only had three months left to go before they were in the world, she still harbored the same mixed feelings about it that she had all this time.

Suddenly, another package was dumped onto Susan's lap, it was rectangular and flat, "What's this?" she asked.

"You'll see!" Lucy said, for perhaps the fourteenth time that day, she ticked her neck backward slightly, as if giving someone a subtle signal for something.

"What's—" Susan began, but was cut off by Lucy.

"Please, just open it, and you'll find out!"

"All right, all right." Susan mumbled, untying the strings. When she unfolded the paper, she saw her own reflection wink back at her. "A mirror?" she held it up in her lap, "I don't get it. What's so 'you'll see' about a—" she didn't finish her sentence, because just as she was going to, she saw the reflection of a tall blonde man behind her. She spun around, "Peter?"

Peter didn't say anything, he merely held out his hand to help Susan stand up as he approached her. She stood there, staring at him for a few seconds, before she flung her arms around his neck, colliding her lips with his.

Susan didn't know quite how long the kiss lasted. It could have lasted a few seconds, several months, or many years, in Susan's mind, time stopped.

When the kiss did break, Peter said, his breath warm on Susan's nose, "Finally found you."

Susan began thinking, "How—what are you doing here?"

Peter said, "I got your letter. You didn't really think that I'd just leave you, did you?"

Blushing Susan said, "What about your training?"

"I got leave for the rest of the time. I was able to get tested earlier on so I didn't have to stay any longer. I'm yours."

"You all knew about this?" Susan said, smiling at the three others in the living room.

"Of course," Lucy said, a very Cheshire like grin plastered on her face, "Peter came here earlier this morning, you were still asleep, so we decided to make it a surprise for you."

"Well, I'm certainly going to remember this Christmas," Susan said, turning back to Peter.

They kissed again, before Peter lifted his head abruptly, "I got you something," he bent down and handed Susan a rather large hatbox, "Merry Christmas."

Honestly, having Peter there with her was enough of a gift for Susan, but regardless, she lifted the lid of the hatbox, only to reveal another box inside of it, wrinkling her brow, she kept on opening box after box, each one getting smaller and smaller. Finally, about a half a dozen boxes later, there was another smaller one. Opening that one, her eyes became the size of the pies that she had helped make earlier that day, for inside it, was a beautiful golden ring.

"What?" Susan whispered out in a breathy voice, turning to look at Peter, who had sunk down onto one knee.

"Susan Pevensie," he said, "Over the years you've been many things to me. You've been my best friend, you are the love of my life, and the soon to be mother of my child, nothing would make me happier than adding 'wife' to that list. Will you marry me?"

Every last drop of adrenaline in Susan's body was released, and she felt numb aside from the fast pace of her own heart and happiness. She wasn't even standing in Tumnus's living room anymore; she was somewhere else, just she, Peter, and her own happiness. Smiling like she had never smiled before, she exclaimed, "Yes! Yes! Of course!"

Hopping up to his feet, Peter grabbed the ring and slid it onto Susan's finger, and they kissed again, somewhere in the background though neither Peter nor Susan truly heard it all that much, and if they did, it was just white noise, Lucy smiled and said, "Told you he wouldn't leave you."

The holiday resumed with Christmas dinner, though it was only noon, they all ate their fill, laughing and enjoying the day, Susan got sick very briefly from the rabbit but was fine after vomiting once, and Lucy had her first taste of wine; neither one of the sister's could say that they enjoyed it all too much.

Afterward, they all gathered around the fireplace to allow Peter to tell them about training and the Lone Islands while everyone rested their full stomachs. Peter told them mostly about the written portion, jousting part of the training, but apparently, there was an actual legal problem going on the island, right under the Narnian army's noses, it was mostly the reason that Peter got leave from training for so long without repercussions. The island they were on was having a problem with slavery, and they didn't know it. The crown detested slavery, wishing Narnia to be a free country for every man, beast, or creature that could think for themselves.

Peter, along with several other knights including the mouse knight Sir Reepicheep, had discovered a slave auction whilst stretching their legs during their lunch break. They, obeying the laws and rules of conduct and chivalry, returned to camp and told their commanding officers. Peter helped with the freeing of the slaves after that, and it proved to work out like a final exam for him. "One of the people to be sold at the auction was your cousin, actually." Peter said, closing his story.

Lucy and Susan only had one cousin, so they said in unison ticking their heads to the side, "Eustace?"

"Yeah," Peter said, "No one wanted to buy him, though."

Here, Edmund let out a snort, "That's either very good, or very insulting."

Lucy then said, "I didn't know the Scrubbs moved to the Lone Islands…they don't seem like Lone Islands kind of people…they don't seem like _Narnia_ kind of people, actually…"

Shortly after that, Tumnus and Lucy pulled out their instruments and played a lively folk song, to which Susan and Peter danced. Susan might have been very pregnant, and her steps, sashays and rocks were more like waddles and shuffles, she looked rather like a penguin attempting the dance, but she still looked graceful and beautiful doing it, more so than she already did every day of her life.

Perhaps that's the tell of true happiness, no matter how odd looking something you're doing is, if you're happy and in love, you'll still be the fairest of them all.

XXXXXXXX

_Well, I think Christmas went over rather successfully. I just hope that we won't be planning any more major surprises for Susan that I'll have to lie for. I don't like it, though it was nice to see Susan so surprised and happy. I wasn't lying about anything bad, I suppose, we just wanted to make it all the more special for Susan…though she probably would've been just as happy if I just flat out told her, 'Peter's here.' _

_But I think we helped make it special for her. That's what matters. _

_I'm holding my phoenix quill up to the light, and watching it catch fire, and then I blow it out again. It returns even more brilliant than last time. There's some sort of hidden irony in this gift; I know it. Father Christmas gave me a gift that catches fire, considering all that's happened. _

_Honestly, I see it as sort of a sign. I haven't been holding onto the fire, obviously, I hardly remember it, but for some reason, I think that it means something; I think it's rather literal symbolism. _

_It means that everything burns, but not everything has to be damaged by it. In fact, sometimes it can make things stronger, more beautiful, better off. _

_You learn from the hardships of the past, and it makes you stronger, more beautiful, better off, and that's the point of it. _

This concludes part one.

**A/N: Okay, so I was looking through my fanfiction file cabinet (because I'm cool enough to have a fanfiction file cabinet) at my original notes and charts for this fanfiction (which, by the way, was going to be called ****Edge of the Forest ****have six parts and 70+ chapters…I shortened it...a LOT) and I realized that I forgot to tell you all that this version of the fanfiction is divided into two parts. Sorry. **


	20. The Diary

**Part Two**

_In less than a year, my life's been turned on it's head, spun around and tap-danced upon by the dainty little feet that belong to Fate._

_The last you probably heard from me was Christmas, and that was months ago. Since then, things have been very slow._

_I've been reading about what a midwife has to do, how to help someone through childbirth, and all those 'fun' things._

_Susan and Peter aren't married yet, Susan's mentioned something about waiting until after the babies are born so that she won't have to remember her wedding day looking like, and I quote, "a giant pumpkin"_

_The babies really should be coming any week now…winter really should be coming to an end, even though the weather doesn't seem to realize it. Every day it's cold and dreary, at least the snow's starting to melt a little._

_Though, to be entirely honest, the transition between winter and spring kind of bothers me. Everything's dark, cold, and wet. It's hard to find something to do; it's too slushy really to do anything outdoors, so most of my time is spent inside._

_Susan and I can't even go on our walks anymore, either. Her ankles are swollen most of the time, and she's a bit overly cautious of getting ill, though I understand, considering how soon the babies are going to come._

_It's a bit odd, ever since the beginning of last summer; this was how far we looked to. We didn't know what would all happen, but it was always getting to Lantern Waste and waiting it out until Su had her baby, even though now she's going to have two. What's going to happen after the babies come?_

_What I can guess is that Susan will move back east with the babies and Peter, actually, I'm pretty sure of it. He's got to live in Cair Paravel, since it's so much easier for him to be reached if he does. There are knights and other army men over here in the west, but I highly doubt that they're trained in the same way that Peter is._

_What I'm wondering about, in a few months, where will I be? Will I go back to Cair Paravel with my sister and her husband? Or am I supposed to go somewhere else? I've lived my whole life with Susan, and I still can't really imagine life without her, but I'm going to have to soon._

_Everything changes, and so will I. I can't keep my philosophy that lead me to come here with Susan in the first place for my entire life. __She's going to be married soon, __I doubt that she's going to want her little sister tagging along with her for the next few years or so._

_I don't really like having to think about this, things are pretty good right now, and it upsets me to do so. I want to think about something else._

_It's mucky outside...I can hear Tumnus down the stairs humming to himself, the tune remembers me of something. I've had my birthday, I'm fifteen._

XXXXXXXX

Susan was sitting in her room, stabbing pieces of coal in the fireplace with the long poker. Previously, Susan had been sitting with Peter going over different plans for the wedding and for the babies.

Both Susan and Peter had decided that they wanted at least a little celebration for their wedding. After all, they were only getting married once and they wanted to be able to make it something to remember. It wouldn't be anything huge, mostly because all of Susan's family was already there, and Peter's parents were in eastern Ettinsmoor, and knew nothing about their son's current situation, he'd write them a letter later to tell them that he became a father and a husband and whatnot, that would be one interesting letter. As far as everything else went, it would be just a wedding service, and then a meal afterwards. The guest list was rather small, and ended up with Lucy, Tumnus, Polly, Edmund, the babies, and the physician that lived a few miles away from the Lamppost. Still, that didn't matter; neither of them needed a huge affair to be happy.

As far as the babies went, well, they were coming in a matter of weeks and their parents were trying to figure out names. Earlier on, both Peter and Susan had sat in their room with a quill and paper and began to think up names. Peter would think up girl's names, and Susan would think up boy's names, they'd switch the paper and take off any names they didn't like that the other one did, and up until then, they just had to decide from there together.

Susan looked at the piece of paper that Peter had written names for daughters, so far the list went on as; _Elizabeth, Love, Petunia, Grace, Rose, Anna, Matilda, _and _Lylie. _

The first one to go was Petunia. It wasn't that Petunia was a bad name all that much, but, well, petunias are known as the flower of anger resentment and she didn't really want to name her daughter after one, it was just weird. Not to mention it reminded her of the time she courted with the gardener at Cair Paravel, she thought about that as little as possible, and didn't quite want anything to remind her of that time, mostly because it made her want to vomit.

The next three that were gone were Love, Matilda, and Lylie. They were all fine names, and she didn't quite have a reason for scratching them off, other t an the fact that they were a bit too extravagant. Looking at the list, she was down to three. Grace, Rose, and Anna. They were all good names, simple yet strong, and they could all accompany any personality. She decided to knock off Anna for no special reason other than the fact that it didn't go as well with any of the other names.

So, there, she had the final names. If the twins turned out to be girls, their names would be Rose or Grace. If the twins were boys, their names would be Noah or Benjamin. Looking at the two lists, Susan saw that Peter wrote out of the names that Susan chose, that he liked Noah the best, and then Benjamin the second. That meant that if the twins were a boy and a girl, the boy's name would be Noah. Now, she thought, which sounds better with Noah? Rose or Grace?

Suddenly, Susan was greeted with a tight and sharp pain in her stomach, a slight dizzy spell, and pressure in her lower back. This was the first of her contractions.

XXXXXXXX

Lucy had just sat down her last book about childbirth. She officially knew most things about being a midwife, and, truth be told it was a fairly convincing brand of birth control. Knowing what happens during childbirth, the extreme pain, well, it was the final straw in convincing the new fifteen-year-old that she wouldn't get physical with anyone until after she married; the books were overly explicit in the descriptions of labor pains.

Lucy stood up, clumsily knocking over the end table, where thankfully, the only thing on it was an old leather book labeled "Diary" in shiny golden letters. Sometimes she had seen Tumnus reading it, but when she asked him what he was reading, he only blushed and said, "This was the diary of an old friend of mine," and, seeing it was awkward for him, she didn't press it farther.

Not being a nosy girl, she didn't mean to look inside, but when she saw her name, she got interested. "_We've decided to name her Lucy." _

She immediately realized that it was her mother's old diary. She could learn more about who her mother was, what she was like. Still, was it considered an invasion of privacy reading the diary of someone who was dead? Perhaps not, Tumnus was reading it, after all. It seemed to be from the year she was born. That meant that she could probably figure out who her real father was! But wait, she thought, in my dream Mum told me that she didn't want me to know, that she didn't want me to go and look for my birth father…but was that really what Mum wanted?

She sighed. For once, her instinct wasn't leading her in a clear direction. She felt like she really should just read it, and find out more about her mother, and about her origins. Then again, her mother did say that she didn't want Lucy knowing, in her dream. But what if her parents never died? Would she be going through her whole life not knowing anything? She thought about it, before deciding to read it. If her mother was still alive, and she asked about it, surely she would tell her what she needed to know.

She slowly began flipping through the pages. Her heart beat rapidly in her ears. She was scared that she was doing the wrong thing, and wondering what she would find.

For about a half hour the entries were slightly uninteresting, simply covering off day-to-day life, at least she was getting the idea of what her mother was like. Apparently, they owned a bed-and-breakfast for travelers that were, typically, headed off to Cair Paravel. Helen really seemed in love with Wilhelm, which, as good of a thing that seemed to be, it was confusing. Why would someone truly in love with their husband have an affair?

Then came an entry that made Lucy a bit nervous; "_I don't know how it's possible to love someone so much, but be so upset at him over something that seems so little. I love Will with all of my heart, you know that, but how is it that he can't understand how not okay I am with letting this person into the house. I know that we can't just let some people in and not others, but there's something about this man that, well, bothers me._

_"I don't know exactly why, but it's just…I don't know. Maybe it's the way that Susan ran and hid behind the sofa when he came around. Though, she hasn't been too friendly to guests since those Porcupines stayed here and she ended up with quills in face. The poor girl. _

_"__Anyway, there was something about this man who came in asking for a room. His name's Glozelle, and he's a lord in the Telmarine court…or a general in their army, or something like that. He came in, asking for a room, something was off, I could tell, but I still don't know what. I didn't want to give him a room, so I pulled Will aside—" _

The entry went on, describing the scene. Lucy saw it in her head, she saw the Telmarine named Glozelle knock on the door, when the door was opened, little Susan running behind the sofa, she saw Helen pull her husband into the kitchen. There was no dialogue in the diary, but Lucy could picture her mother, picking up Susan and balancing the young girl on her hip while saying, "Will, I really don't feel good about this!"

The response was most likely something along the lines of, "I don't see why it's bothering you, Telmarines come around wanting a room just as much as others."

"I'm not racist. I don't know why either. But I know what my gut is telling me. Why do we have to give him a room at all? Can't we just pretend that we're full, or something?" Lucy was fairly sure that something like that was said, since nearly the exact same thing was written in the diary.

"We're empty, Helen. And we need the money."

"We're doing just fine as it is, we might not be able to pay for anything extra right now, but it's not as if we'll lose the house if we don't take this man in!" Perhaps she waited later on to say, "He wants to stay for two weeks! Two weeks, Will. We normally only have to house people for a night or two!"

This was nearly written in the dairy word for word as well, "I don't want to discuss this anymore. I don't know why you're so upset about this. You don't even have to interact with the man, he'll only use this place to sleep and have breakfast, remember. You can make the breakfast earlier on; just preoccupy yourself with Susan or something. You know that I don't like disagreeing with you. We just need the money, Helen."

With that, the entries continued. For the first week, Helen avoided the guest at all costs, continually writing how there was just something off about him. She would spend her extra time with Susan, playing with little dolls, or teaching her the alphabet.

Then, once the first week was almost over, there was a slight difference in her penmanship; it was a little sloppier, a little darker, which probably meant that Helen was either sad or angry when she wrote it.

The setting was mostly up to Lucy's imagination, but she pictured Helen pacing the bedroom, while her husband packed up, at long last, she probably said, "I wish you didn't have to go. You already know how uncomfortable I am with Glozelle in the house."

"I have to, my cousin needs my help." Lucy pictured her dad closing his suitcase at this point. "Look, he just needs me there for a few days, and then I'm right back. I'd want you to come with me if there wasn't anyone staying here."

In Lucy's imagination, her mother sighed, "Alright," she said, "give Ramandu and his daughter my love, won't you?"

Though, apparently, Helen handled it rather well, but she was still somewhat upset at her husband for just leaving her there.

Lucy didn't have to read much further. She didn't need an absolute confirmation, she figured that she knew what would come later when her mother stopped complaining about Glozelle, and when she started mentioning slight interludes between them, Lucy slammed the book shut and wondered why it seemed like a good idea at all to read it.

XXXXXXX

_Why did I read it? It didn't change anything. I'm still Lucy, the only thing that changed at all is that I know the name of my birthfather, and that I'm half Telmarine, but, does that change a lot? _

_It really doesn't. Knowing a name doesn't make anything better. _

_Was I expecting something to change? What did I really want from reading it, anyway? I suppose that I wanted to know more about Mum, but what was I hoping to see about my birth father? _

_What was I expecting, anyway? _

_I don't know. Whatever I was, I didn't find it._


	21. Run!

_I'm a bit tired of this middle winter-spring time. Why can't spring just begin? Why must the weather tease me?_

_The ground right now is simply slush. Mucky, dirty, it really is awful. Yes, occasionally we can see grass, but it's drenched wet and muddy, it's not like in the summer when you sneak off your shoes and let the grass tickle your feet. You can't do as much as take three steps outside right now without getting your shoes absolutely drenched._

_Sometimes, this slushy weather is made worse by the occasional late snowfall and overnight freezes. It seems that the instant it seems to get warm enough for us to finally be rid of the slush, it gets cold all over again, and we're faced with a week of snow, before that thaws, and we're stuck with it all over again._

_Of course, there is a silver lining to all of this awful weather. The sun shines golden yellow nearly all the time, despite what it's like down here. I love to go and sit by a window, I'll either read or I'll just stare out into Narnia, it doesn't really matter what I do. _

_When I look at the sky, it makes me wish to be a bird, or perhaps just be able to fly. Leave the mud of the ground world and take a nap on the fluffiest cloud, with the warmth of the butter yellow sun shining comfortable onto my cheekbones. I wouldn't get sunburn, because when you fly and take naps on clouds, the sun takes pity on you because there's no shade to hide under. _

_If I could fly I could talk to the stars and the moon. I'd play in the sky with the leopard and I'd dance around with the nocturnal birds. _

_But then, when it gets warmer, I wonder if the prospect of flying will appeal to me in the same way. I don't like to wish my life away focusing on what I don't have and what I can't have. Though I suppose everyone would like to fly. To feel the wind against you, to go through a cloud, to wonder how high the sky will go until you scrape the blue of the sky. When the spring comes, I'll have different things to think about, different wishes, different wants. _

_This weather is going to end soon, and that relaxes me. It's a happy thought. _

_Soon, I'll be able to see grass, and not drenched like now; I'm talking about nice, dry, green, grass! The kind of grass that tickles your feet, and you can play music on. The dryads will begin to wake up, and their trees to dance. The sky will be blue, and the clouds puffy. And, over bird songs, the ruffle of leaves, and tiny cries of my nieces or nephews, I'll swear I'll be able to hear the Lion sing in the distance._

_You can quote me._

XXXXXXXXXX

Lucy sat by the biggest window in the house, watching the freezing rain pound against the glass of the window. Everything within a mile's radius was getting entirely covered in ice.

She took her hand into her sleeve, and ran it in a small circle around the window, leaving a sort of peephole for her to look out at the wood. She rubbed her sleeve off on her skirt, as to dry her hand off. Her dress was surprisingly well kept up, it was the one Susan got her in Beaversdam, and even after all this time, Lucy had been able to keep it clean, and free of tares. Lucy had quite the record for tearing dresses, when she wasn't falling out of trees or tripping on air, she was being stabbed by magical arrows and breaking off her sleeves.

Stillness was all she saw. Not a single animal, speaking or dumb, was out, nor a human, nor any other sort of creature, or so it seemed. The wood was entirely still, an eerie sort of quality lingered in the sleeping trees, mucky and wet ground turning hard from the freezing rain.

For some reason, a single, lonely shiver ran down her spine. For a moment, she felt cold, and she almost saw a shadow in a cluster of trees a while away, creep forward, close to the ground, nearly ready to pounce.

Of course, she didn't see this, so her shiver went unexplained. She heard someone loudly run up the stairs, grinning, she said, "Ed, what's up?"

Edmund went over to stand beside her, "Nothing much, it's really awkward down there, is all."

Cocking an eyebrow, Lucy asked, "What do you mean?"

"Your sister and Peter. They're just going on and on about the wedding and the babies and what's going to happen after the wedding, and things of the sort. But it's kind of creepy, especially when he starts rubbing her ankles."

The corners of Lucy's mouth turned up, "Oh, it's not so bad. They're going to be married in a while, they'll have a family to start, and they'll have a new life. It's an exciting thing for them. Don't you think that when you find someone that you love, and they…they love you back, you'll be excited before you start your life with her?"

Shrugging, Edmund said, "I guess. I haven't really thought about it. Have you?"

"Yeah, a little." Lucy admitted; she turned her hands around, as if wringing them out, so that her palms faced upward, "It'll be exciting, I suppose. I haven't really thought about it for me, though."

They stood in silence for a few moments; Lucy turned her head to look out the window as it rained. Edmund fiddled with his cuticles, before turning to see what Lucy was looking at. He squinted out the window, "Do you see that?"

Lucy began to say, "See what?" But she barely got anything out before being interrupted.

"Be quiet!" Edmund said, leaning forward until his face was practically pressed against the glass. "_Do _you see that?" he repeated, pointing to a cluster of trees awhile off.

"The trees? What about them?"

"Not the trees…" he squinted again, before turning paper white, and grabbing her wrist, and pulling her down the stairs.

"What's going on?" Lucy asked.

"No time," he said quickly, once he got down the stairs, he walked over to the sofa where Susan was sitting and talking with Peter, "We need to borrow Susan for a moment." He grabbed Susan's hand and hurled her to her feet, and up the stairs.

Susan seemed confused, "What are you doing?"

"No time to explain," Edmund rushed, stampeding up the latter that led to his attic room, calling over his shoulder "We're ahead right now, but we won't be for long. Susan, get your horn; Lucy get your dagger, don't ask questions. Just go. Go! Go!"

A bit flabbergasted, if nothing else, the two sisters went into their own rooms, Lucy had grabbed her dagger and was in the doorway to her room, Susan was just about to grab her horn when there was the sound of breaking wood and a loud snarl coming from down the stairs, and instead of the horn, she grabbed her bow and quiver of arrows. Stepping out of the room she had her weapons strapped around her chest, just in case.

Edmund was already back by the door, sword in it's sheath, he forgot completely that he was trying to stop cursing so often, and his voice darkly came out in nearly in a growl, "Damn them!" Redirecting his attention back to the girls he said, "Come on, we've got to go."

"What's going on?" Susan asked, hands on what should be her waist, she wasn't going to do anything until she knew what was going on.

"Maugrim. He found us," Edmund said, opening the window, immediately being sprayed with the rain, "Come on."

The two sisters exchanged worried looks, "What about Peter?" Susan asked, looking down the stairs, at the foot of them, she could see wolves creeping in the room, and Peter with his sword out defensively.

"Or Tumnus!" Lucy chimed, thinking of her dear friend.

"In case you two girls haven't quite realized it, we're on a bit of a tight schedule. We need to get out of here as soon as possible. They can take care of themselves. Let's _go_!"

As she was being helped out the window, and onto a nearby tree branch, Susan whispered coldly to Edmund, "This is all your fault. If it weren't for you, they wouldn't have come for us."

Edmund found himself looking at the ground, there was a sense of logic to Susan's accusation, however hurtful it was. If he left, Maugrim and the hag would have gone after him first. He put them in danger. Of course, they would have caught up to them eventually, but still.

Lucy put a hand on Edmund's arm before stepping onto the branch herself. The tree branch was wet and slippery with ice, she found herself stumble the instant her weight was on it. Susan was already down on the ground, following her little sister with her eyes.

Lucy went on standing on the branch, moving forward inch by inch. She took a wrong step and found herself falling backwards through air. She let out a shriek, before finding herself on hard, icy, snow and mud. To put it blatantly, it wasn't at all pleasant. She figured that she would probably sport a bruise on her back for the next few weeks.

Susan helped her sister to her feet; she was about to ask if she was all right, but before she could do so, there was a bark from inside the house, and Edmund jumped from the window and shouted out, "Run!"

XXXXXXXX

Peter stared at a gray wolf from the other end of his sword. He slowly pivoted on his heels as the wolf circled him.

It snickered as it circled Peter slowly, slowly, gaining the upper hand. A sentry at the door barked loudly, but the wolf didn't look away; that would be foolish. It could guess what the bark was for; Edmund and the Girl were trying to make a getaway. The stupid things. A group of wolves, including the captain Maugrim himself, turned out the door to chase down the fugitives. You cannot outrun wolves, it's impossible, and eventually they would be caught.

The wolf at hand, however, was currently staring at a stony face up the metal end of a sword. Not a good place to be. Still, by circling around the knight and moving him, the wolf could back him into a corner, and get him to drop his weapon, and viola! The knight called Peter Wolfsbane was its prey.

Peter wished that he could spare a mere second to acknowledge his surroundings, to give him a little more leverage. He knew that it would be a stupid move; any second away from the moment could become a fatality.

When it's one against a group, you have to acknowledge them as a whole and look for the person who's distracted and strike them. It's a strategy, and that's one thing that the wolves had that he didn't.

He wasn't a fool, he knew what the wolf was trying to do, but he couldn't quite focus on it. There were so many wolves, and only one of him. It didn't take much to say that he was vastly outnumbered. Not to mention, Peter had no clue where Susan was, or anyone, for that matter. Was she upstairs? In that case, he had to block the stairs. It was all so confusing that he didn't even notice that he was getting backed into the fireplace before he tripped on the poker and hot coals.

He fell to the ground, surrounded by embers and coals that singed his clothes, and saw the wolf let out a horrid, beastly smile, "I have to say I'm disappointed," the wolf jeered, "I was hoping for a knight called Wolfsbane would be more of a challenge."

What happened next happened so quickly so that Peter wasn't quite sure what happened. There was a high-pitched bark of surprise and the next thing the he saw was Tumnus, standing over a collapsed wolf, wielding his pink umbrella as if it were a sword.

"Oh my," the faun said, "I didn't know I could hit like that."

Peter quickly said his thanks, but stood up immediately to fight again, back to back with Tumnus, two against half a dozen. He didn't like to kill, but he would if he had to. Still, the wolves didn't seem quite interested in the kill, he noticed. They seemed to be posing as a distraction, having had to be distractions before himself, he recognized the strategy. "Tumnus?" he muttered to the faun, "Where are the girls?" A wolf charged at him, and Peter proceeded to stab it in the leg, not enough to kill it, but perhaps enough to cripple the thing forever more.

Tumnus bashed another wolf on the head with his umbrella, "I'm not sure!" he cried out bashing the wolf with every word, "Of all the horrible times not to know!"

However amusing the sight of a faun beating the snot out of a enormous beast with a delicate-looking umbrella would be to most people, the wolf wasn't exactly looking all that amused. He let out a growl, and was about to pounce on Tumnus, the thirst for blood apparent in his eyes. Peter stepped towards the wolf and slit it's throat, just as it was about to pounce on his friend. It let out a bark, but then fell on the floor, gone, a small trail of blood staining the fur.

It seemed that the fight only began, when there was a howling noise coming from far away, or so it sounded. A wolf howled back, and four wolves bounded out the door, leaving the dead one, as the crippled one attempted to stagger through the door.

Peter grabbed the limping one by the scruff of its neck; "Hold on there," he said, "you're going to tell us what that was all about."

"I won't." The wolf growled, trying to escape from Peter's grip.

Peter lifted his sword, so that the tip of it was mere inches away from the wolf's throat, "I'm called Wolfsbane for a reason and you don't want to know what it is."

"It won't matter." The wolf said, a wicked smile on its face, "They've got them. By sunset we'll have her Majesty's successor back, the youngest girl shall be dead, and the Eternal Winter will begin. Mark my words, there's no such thing as happily ever after!" And, with that, the wolf charged forward, using Peter's sword to stab it's own throat. As it lay there dying, it let out it's final words, rasping on its foul breath, "The end has begun."

XXXXXXXXX

_We're running, but it's difficult. We slip and slide on the ice, Susan can't run very much at all. She's so red in the face that I don't know how much more she can handle. She stumbles and skids, but luckily never falls. If she falls, I don't know if she'll be able to get up._

_ I realize something, it wasn't that the wolves couldn't have found us if they tried, they were waiting. Waiting until Susan couldn't run away, waiting until she was more helpless than she's ever been. That's now. The babies are due any day now, she can barely run, much less defend herself._

_We hide behind a large tree, panting and shivering noisily. I can tell by the looks on Susan and Edmund's faces that this is bad, worse than it's ever been. We can't outrun them, there's no place to hide. Things have never looked so hopeless._

_Until now I haven't noticed how cold and wet I am. My hands have turned blue, I'm soaked to the bone, and I can hardly feel my toes. I heave as I try to breathe; at least Susan's doing all right, she's panting hard and rubbing her belly and back. She grabs the tree and looks like she's dizzy, and she mutters something about wanting to faint._

_Oh no! Fainting can mean something as simple as dehydration or as serious as blood flow problems! She needs to lie down, but we can't risk it. This is bad, very, very bad!_

_Please, Aslan, help us. I'm begging you; help us. We cannot run any longer._

_We're going to be caught; even I can see it. We're going to be taken, and from there, I don't know what._

_They're going to try to kill me, aren't they?_

_They've found us, and it looks like game over, especially from the looks on Su and Ed's faces. They look ready to give up right now, and just walk up to the wolves and surrender to them._

_But not me. I'm not going to give up without a fight. I've been virtually helpless my entire life, Susan's looked after me. It's my turn. Even when the wolves do take us, I won't give up, not so long as there's a breath left in my body._

_I have to have hope that we'll make it out alive, I have to have enough hope for all three of us, without hope we're as good as dead. I have to have faith in Aslan; I have to have enough for both Edmund and me, seeing as he doesn't have any. Finally, I must be brave. I have to be brave, I don't know what's going to happen when the wolves catch us._

_Please, if Aslan's willing, let me be braver._


	22. Winter's Prison

_It only took a few minutes for the wolves to catch up with us. I pull out my dagger, and I hear the metal slicing noise that it brings. The wolves snicker at me. _

_No one else tries to help me, either Susan's too dizzy or she just doesn't think we can stand a chance, but she remains leaning against a tree._

_Edmund asks me what the heck do I think I'm doing. I mumble to him that I don't really know. All I do know is that I can't just stand by and let us get captured. I need to do something. _

_Apparently, something isn't quite enough. My dagger ends up back on my belt, and the wolves are walking us away. _

_We're being forced to walk quickly to a place I'm sure is the White Witch's fortress; Winter's Prison. _

_I keep on slipping and falling on the ice and mud, Edmund helps me up briefly, and Susan offers the comfort that she can, putting an arm on mine, or just sending me a quick distressed smile, but there isn't time for much else, because then the wolves will be nipping at our heels to make us get a move on. _

_They're nipping at us; we're like a herd of stupid, speechless cattle to them. They've circled us in, the wolf I've known to be Maugrim in the front, two blacker wolves on the side, and then the ones herding us, two huge gray things with yellow teeth glistening with saliva, if any monsters were made to kill, it would be those two wolves. _

_It was morning when we began the chase, now it's noon; the rain hasn't quite stopped. It hits me hard, like pieces of glass as we're forced to walk forward._

_Eventually, we're standing at the base of the worst place I've ever been. Despite the cold, I feel an evanescent hellish quality coming off the walls, and I'm not even inside it yet. _

_It's supposed to look like a castle, I assume, but it doesn't look like any castle I've ever known. _

_In Cair Paravel, the bricks were brilliantly white and shining, the flags flew proudly on top of the high towers with soft contours and lines making up the whole thing. Here, there are no bricks to be seen, it's only ice, no flags at all, and the lines look razor sharp, it looked like if you were to touch the side of this building at all, you'd get a deep cut and bleed a river of blood onto the white snow. _

_That's another difference, while winter's ending everywhere else; snow is still painfully white and covers every inch of the ground here. _

_I look over to the side and see Edmund. He looks like he's going to be sick, but that's not all. His eyes are watery and he's sniffing madly._

_Seeing Edmund like this, it's a scary thing, he normally shows his weakness by getting a little angry, and swearing under his breath, but this I'm not used to._

_He's crying._

_What sort of horrible things do they do here to compel a grown-up boy to start crying just from seeing it?_

_I think that I'll find out, though I wish that I didn't have to._

_I wish that the wolves never found us when we got to Tumnus's, I wish that they lost their tracking abilities. I wish that Christmas was the happily ever after to this story. But it wasn't, now I just need to stop thinking about what things would be like if this never happened and focus on now._

_Be brave, Lucy. Be brave._

XXXXXXXXXXX

After being roughly marched the long distance through slush, mud, and snow, Susan and Lucy were immediately handed, or in a more literal sense, thrown, to two huge Minotaur guards.

The big brutes were enormous, flea-ridden things that grabbed the sisters' arms so tightly that it was a wonder that they weren't numb afterwards, though the guard's yellowed nails did cut their arms. Edmund wasn't thrown to anyone; he simply followed with a knife pressed against his back by a dwarf with an old icy cap and long, dirty beard.

As the group was being dragged through the castle, many dark and unpleasant-looking creatures of all varieties from hags to evil Apes stopped and stared at Edmund; some burst into cruel laughter, others just rubbed their hands together menacingly, pleased with something, so it seemed. A gargoyle-like creature, perhaps the same one Susan had seen all those years ago, approached Edmund. It mocked him in strange low slurs that were impossible to make out. But the next part was loud and clear, it punched him in the jaw with such force that, if the poor boy weren't as used to abuse as he was, he would've fallen backwards and onto the knife pressed against his back.

The halls and corridors were icy, sharp, and uneven. There was nothing castle-like about that place; it was more like a glacier than anything else. Or not even that; glaciers couldn't possibly be so cold and forlorn. When each of them exhaled, they felt like a bit of their soul was escaping the imprisonment in their body and being released into the world. It would be far safer wandering aimlessly through the Wild Lands to the north and west than it would be in that castle, that much was obvious.

Eventually, they were all forced down a crowd of icy stairs and into the prison part of the castle, which was even more horrible than the rest of it, if that's possible. The only light came from the staircase that led to the rest of the castle, and it was a cold blue light that still left you feeling like you're in the dark, it was enough to drive someone to madness if they stayed there long enough. The prison bars were made of iron, but covered in ice and frost.

Susan was the first roughly taken away from her bow and arrow by the prison guard, some sort of troll that wasn't aware how to breathe out of its nose. It grabbed her by the hair and threw her into the cell, harshly to say the least. She put her hands on her stomach, waiting to see what would happen next. A small kick of protest came from the inside of her belly, but nothing more. Thankfully, the brutish thrashing did not induce labor.

She looked around the cell for a moment; she was in the only sliver of the cold, blue light. The door was made of icy metal bars, but other than that, the walls were made of harshly cut stone in the style of bricks. There were chains on the walls, and she could make out half the skeleton of a faun held on the wall. Just then, a thought came to her, surely she wasn't the only one in the cell, there must be more people lurking in the shadows. The thought did not comfort her.

Lucy was the next one, her hair was tugged and she was kicked and hit before she too was hurled into the cell, and fell next to Susan. At least that was a little bit of comfort, the sisters crowded closer to each other, they were both freezing, but any fraction of body heat the other gave was enough to let them know that they were there, and as always, they were going to do this together. "You okay?" Lucy asked, worried that how Susan was being shoved around would harm her or the babies.

"It depends on your definition of 'okay'. I don't think I'm hurt. What about you?"

Susan never got an exact answer to this, because just as Lucy was about to answer, she looked towards the outside of the icy bars of the cell, and her eyes widened, "Ed," she whispered.

It was no wonder why Lucy was so scared at that time, for it was Edmund's turn to be thrown into the cell, but the beasts seemed to be taking a rather long time to do so. They were going out of their way to hurt him.

"Special treatment for the special boy." The dwarf said, taking the blade of his uneven knife and threateningly hanging it around his throat, "Isn't that what you wanted?" The dwarf cackled and confiscated Edmund's sword, and roughly throwing him to the Minotaur.

The Minotaur let out a noise that could only be described as a cross between a groan and a moo as it said, "Welcome back, _sire_," as it threw Edmund against a table, and pulled out a long snaky whip. The whip cracked once in the air, scarcely missing its target. Even though Edmund could barely feel the whip, it was enough to make both Lucy whimper and Susan gasp, letting the freezing and musty air in her lungs. When the Minotaur was through with his torment, he threw Edmund to the troll.

It was obvious that Edmund was mustering up everything he had inside him not to cry or whimper. Though it was apparent on his face that he was terrified, that it seemed right out of some horrific nightmare that would wake you in the middle of the night and keep you awake for another few weeks.

The troll cackled at the sight, and spit on his face, the mucus green and slimy with a few black chunks swimming around on the green. "Just like old times, _human_!" It hissed, apparently taking extreme pleasure in it. After being battered around for a while longer, Edmund was forced into the cell, before it locked them in.

When all four of the horrible things were gone, Edmund wiped off his face with his already soaked and filthy sleeve, "It smells like decayed meat," he murmured, before he began to shake.

Lucy stood up slowly, and walked over to Edmund, somehow, she just knew, no matter how awful the thought was, that that wasn't the first time that Edmund was thrown around exactly like that, "I don't suppose that was new for you?" she asked gently.

Edmund sighed loudly, "No," was all he said.

Susan hobbled up to her feet, "Alright, don't you two think that now would be a good time to explain all this to me?" All that she knew about Edmund's past was what she was able to infer from their earliest meeting with Maugrim (and all that was was that he was on the Witch's side before, and was at the raid), and forgive her if she was rather upset that all of this was happening with her limited knowledge.

Slowly, and painfully, Edmund explained it all to her. How he had come to be raised by the White Witch, that he had pretty much had that prison cell as a bedroom for most of his life, everything.

Susan listened, but she couldn't help feel like something was off. Logically it all added up, it seemed, a man had a pregnant wife who was in danger, he sought out help in a witch, who wanted the baby in return. That was a little far-fetched, but it made more sense to Susan when she thought about her feelings of her own pregnancy. She analyzed the rest of it, Edmund had been raised up to be evil, and when he misbehaved he was tortured, nothing doubting about all that. But then, all she knew was that sometime after the fire, Edmund had decided he didn't want to live like that anymore and ran away (Edmund omitted telling Susan about seeing Lucy in the raid, already getting the feeling that she didn't like him, and he didn't want to say anything that he thought might give Susan more reason to put her actions against him). "Alright," Susan said, "now tell me what you left out. "

Edmund looked baffled, "Huh?"

"Something doesn't add up," Susan explained. "Something had to provoke you to leave, for starters. One doesn't just up and decide that they want to run away from the closest thing to a home they've had—especially when they know that there might be wolves and creatures out looking for them." Susan looked from Edmund, who had turned a ghastly shade of white, to Lucy, who had a strange, unreadable look on her face, and continued, "Besides, something still doesn't add up. The dwarf. He said something like, 'you wanted special treatment' or 'the special boy gets his treatment' or something like that. That doesn't make any sense with Edmund's story thus far."

Lucy's unreadable look became a little clearer, as she stared at her sister. Susan was just being herself; Lucy knew that, she was just trying to find the logic in it so it could make sense to her, because that's how Susan was. She wasn't able to just take things on blind faith, as Lucy could do most of the time, but, for once, was it right to take the logical view on the situation? Did it really not add up? Lucy transferred her gaze from Susan to Edmund.

Edmund's jaw locked, as he searched through his brain to find the answer, "Well, I haven't been lying. Everything I told you was the truth," was all he said.

"Then tell us the whole truth," Susan said.

Lucy continued to transfer looks from her sister to Edmund, over and over again, a rather indefinable look on her face. Her brow was wrinkled, her lips pressed inward and together, and her eyes shifty.

Edmund sighed, "Well, that cat's out of the bag again, I suppose. When I was younger, despite basically living in this prison cell, I had the impression that I was really something special. Whether that was something the Witch had planted in my brain because it fit a plan of hers somehow, or it was something of my own creation, I'm not entirely sure—but it was probably a little of both. I just know that I thought I was really important and special, that I deserved the entire world on a silver platter just for being me.

"So anyway, I didn't only think these things," Edmund said, "I showed them and verbalized them, too. Saying I was like the Witch's son (though I called her the Queen back then) and therefore should be treated like a Prince and things like that. So, obviously, whenever I'd misbehave, speak out of turn, say something that the Witch didn't like, anything; they'd use my attitude against me."

"Is that it then?" Susan asked, feeling somewhat satisfied with the answer, it did make sense. She would take it if it did end up as a final answer.

"Yes," Edmund said finally, after a brief pause. The fact of the matter was that it wasn't

XXXXXXXXX

A while passes with nothing for us to do but huddle close and listen to our heavy breathing and chattering teeth.

_We're all freezing, I'm sure that my lips are just as blue as my hands. How can anybody, evil or not, live in this extreme cold? I've been cold before, but this is just frigid. _

_Eventually, Susan says something. She says, "Edmund…are we the only people in this cell?" _

"_I highly doubt it," he says, and then he turns to the darkness of the cell, and says loudly and clearly that if whoever else in here has anything to make a fire with. Susan and I exchange glances, hers seems to ask me if what Edmund's doing is normal, and I just shrug._

_Someone comes out of the shadows, and my jaw drops at the familiar face._


	23. Caspian's Tale

_I continue to stare gape mouthed at the familiar face. I don't want to see anyone I know in a place like this, much less someone who I've called a friend._

_Could this really be my friend whom I hung around with for the few weeks we stayed with the gypsies? Could this really be Caspian? He'd look exactly the same if it weren't for his split lip. _

_I really do want to know what he's doing here. I can't really bring myself to stop staring; I just can't believe it. _

_Edmund might have gotten the wrong idea from my staring, because he takes his hand, puts it on my chin, and lifts up my jaw until it shuts. When I look at him, he shrugs and mumbles that it's impolite to stare. _

_Of course, he's right. I shouldn't be staring. But what am I supposed to say? Perhaps Susan might say something…_

_Susan looks even more uncomfortable than ever. She was never on exactly good terms with Caspian or any of the gypsies, so that would have something to do with it. She just shivers a bit and averts her eyes. _

_Edmund doesn't look like he wants to say anything, either. I guess I should be the one to say something. _

_But what to say? Obviously the first thing I want to ask is what Caspian's doing here, why he's in an awful place like this, or even how he got here. Isn't it somewhat rude to just jump to the interrogation right when you see someone? _

_So, I ask him what's up, but the only reaction I get is a confused raised eyebrow sort of look from all around me. _

_I really don't know what's so odd about what I said. Is it odd to just say hello and attempt to be somewhat casual in these circumstances? _

_Awkward silence hangs thick in the freezing air. I inhale through my mouth and my salvia nearly freezes in my mouth and my throat. It's enough to make me even colder. I don't know why my body temperature continually drops like this. I must be completely blue, but I can't think about freezing to death. I just can't. _

_We're doing all we can to stay warm, Susan and I are sitting next to each other as close as we can. Edmund and Caspian are making a crude pile of things to burn; ripped cloth, frozen food, and bits of an old broken down chair._

_Suddenly, Edmund reaches into his sleeve and pulls out something brilliantly red, contrasting with the freezing blue like nothing I've ever seen. My phoenix feather! He hands it to me and apologizes for 'stealing' it before we left. Apologizes! If this stops us all from catching our death down here, he can steal absolutely everything I own from me._

_I hold it up to the cold, blue light. For a moment, the feather stays out, and my heart nearly stops. Why is it taking so long?_

_Then, it flares and it's on brilliant white fire. I don't think I've ever seen it white before. When I put it to the pile, the pile completely lights, and a nice white light surrounds us, and we're getting warmer._

_In the back of the prison cell, I see one of my nightmares come alive. Skeletons and corpses adorn the walls, fauns, centaurs, dwarves, animals, dryads, and humans._

_A yelp loses itself in my throat. I have to look away to stop from really screaming. It's awful, just awful._

_To focus on something else, I stare into the fire. Now would be as good of a time as any to ask Caspian what he's doing here._

_When I do ask him, all he says is, "Well, it's sort of a long story."_

_Even though it's horrible down here, at least we have light and a fire, and we're safer down here than we are up there. I pray that we'll be down here long enough to hear it all. For now, there isn't much for any of us to do but listen._

XXXXXXXXX

When the gypsies had reached Cair Paravel, Caspian had found that he had a growing interest in the idea of voyaging out farther East on the sea. Still, when he went around attempting to find work on the crew of some ship, he was turned away every time. Either the ship's crew was full, or the captain was simply uninterested in allowing a Telmarine gypsy on his crew.

The only people that seemed even remotely interested in letting Caspian on their crew were Calormene merchants, who claimed that they could take him on the sea as an indentured servant. He had heard what that would be like, five years or so of intense slave labor to a Calormene merchant just for the chance to become a seafarer, and it hardly seemed worth it.

Because of this, Caspian decided to travel back West, on his own, to earn money so perhaps he could buy his own ship someday, and be in charge of his own voyage to the Far East. So, he bade farewell to the gypsies and set out into Narnia.

It took maybe a full day once he left the Narnian capital to hike to a rather small town just east of Dancing Lawn. It was like any other town, houses for all sorts in two neat rows along the long clean street. It seemed completely normal, like any other town, houses, a general store, and such, but then, there was something oddly abnormal in that town.

At the end of the road, there was the stone foundation of what must have been a house that was burned to the ground a long time ago. In the center of the foundation sat a statue of a group of nameless people; a dryad woman, an old faun man with spectacles sitting on his long nose, a little male Bear cub in a regal-looking feathered heat, and a raggedy-looking human girl with blonde braids. On the bottom of the statue said, in fancy boldfaced letters, "IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO BURNED"

Caspian didn't quite get it, he turned and asked an old man who was hobbling along the street, "What's this about?"

"Don't you know?" The man said, seemingly a little surprised.

"No, I don't." Caspian wondered why it should be so obvious.

The man sighed and leaned on his cane, "Almost a decade ago, Narnia was having problems with the White Witch's—you know who that is, don't you?"

"Of course, my tutor and old nurse used to tell me the old stories when I was growing up." He didn't know whether or not to be offended, was the old man asking if he knew about the greatest villain in Narnian history because he didn't know about the statue, or because he was foreign and stupid looking?

"Yes, well, the Witch's followers were going around and burning towns down, and that's what happened here, but there is more if you're willing to listen." The old man appeared a bit of a beggar because he had to be paid what Caspian had to finish the story, "Good, very good. There was this group against the Witch, they later became known as the Order of the Lion's Song, but for all they knew they were just a group of people fighting for Aslan in whatever way they could. They learned that the reason the Witch's followers were burning down towns was because they were looking for someone with an exact amount of star or something like that in their blood. Two of the Order members, a man and his wife—and they lived in this very house, found this more unsettling than the others because their eldest daughter had the exact mix in her blood that the terrorists were looking for."

The old man let that sink in, or rather waiting to be spotted a few more coins, and continued, "Well, rather than having her daughter run away from everything in her life like a coward, the lady decided to simply be on her guard until the Witch's followers could be stopped. When the girl was nine, however, the town burned down. Nearly every single person living here was burned that day, but the little girl and her sister (who didn't have the same blood mixture; bastard no doubt) survived. And that ended the fire raids as well. The followers must have known that that girl had the blood mixture they were looking for, tipped off by some little birdie, or a little boy." He seemed to find it extremely amusing, because he tipped his head backward and began to cackle.

"I don't understand," Caspian said, "What's so funny?"

The man waited a third time for the feeling of coins in his palm before he resumed, "Well, I don't know how accurate, but there were some rumors that a boy about eight years old was hanging around this house about a week before the raid. It was said that he looked nearly dead, sallow, and pale. Apparently, the sisters never once saw him, but the parents did. He was said to give the mother such a fright once, that she had her husband chase him off of their land with a broom." Once again, he seemed to find that funny and began to laugh.

Caspian cursed himself for wasting all his money on such a pointless story, he normally enjoyed old stories of Narnia, but the only affect that story had on him was wishing that he still had his old tutor, Doctor Cornelius, or Nanny with him to tell him important and interesting stories. That was something he had left behind when he left Telmar.

He did odd jobs around town for nearly a week, and earned back all the money he had spent on the man's story, but he still didn't have enough for a ship or a crew, so he pressed on.

Stopping in towns as he passed them, Caspian was able to earn some money and even a little knowledge from retired sailors in towns here and there. Nothing of extreme note happened from there on, until Caspian reached an enormous forest.

He hiked through it for almost a day, wondering where to stop next, but then he found the most curious thing.

Was that a tiny cottage? It looked centuries old as he approached it, abandoned if whoever owned it knew what was good for him. Snow covered the roof, but it looked like the roof was going to cave in from the weight of it, if it hadn't already.

Out from the trees, a young squirrel seemed to dash to the lowest branch, a foot or so above Caspian's head, shaking snow off of the twigs and onto the white ground.

Not quite aware if this was a Talking Squirrel or not, Caspian said, "Hello," he waited, the squirrel stayed silent oddly enough, but grinned down at him with such intelligence that it would be impossible for the animal not to be one of Narnia's Talking Beasts, so Caspian asked, "Might you be able to tell me which way I ought to walk from here?"

"Are you going to go in there?" the Squirrel said, ignoring the question, "Are you going to free the Miss? I mean, really? She's been in there for so long. Her father should be worried sick, I do imagine. You should go there and free her. You should, you know. No harm in trying, no harm at all."

And, with that, the juvenile scampered up the trunk, and out of Caspian's sight. He was perplexed and interested in what the squirrel said. Was there someone stuck inside that ancient brittle-looking building against her will?

He waded through the snow, until he reached the door to the cottage. It didn't open, but that didn't matter since there was an enormous gaping hole next to it.

Inside the cottage, there were holes in the ceiling, snow covered them so that you couldn't see the sky, underneath them, small piles of snow sat on the dusty floor. On the dust, the oddest thing, sets footprints, two girl's slippers and one of boy's boots. It appeared as though whoever was in here before, walked around for a while, climbed the stairs, but then doubled backwards at a run.

Caspian began to climb the stairs, they were brittle, rotted out, and seemed to give way with every step. He pretty much had to run up them to simply not be stuck on a stair when it was broken.

In the center of the upstairs, there was a simple, clean cut glass box. And, inside the box, was the signally most beautiful girl Caspian had ever seen. She had long yellow-blonde hair tied up in a cruel-looking comb; her fair features seemed to glow through the glass. Over her dress there was a blood-red corset laced on her stomach.

There was something pleasing about the sleeping girl. Something, though he couldn't put his finger on it, on her face looked graceful and kind. He didn't know what she was like other than that, but he was pretty sure that he wouldn't mind finding out.

His actions acted on their own accord, Caspian lifted the top to the glass coffin, and, for a moment stared down at the girl, the exact same features stared up at him, though perhaps they didn't glow as much.

He lifted her head on his hand, and slowly removed the comb, there was some sort of sticky substance on the silver teeth, but the girl's hair was dry. Caspian quickly discarded the comb, hearing it bang on the floor.

Not even beginning to thinking about what he was doing, he began unlacing the corset. It was slightly tedious, and his fingers were slightly blue, but once the corset was unlaced, something came over him. He leaned in over the sleeping girl, and before he was quite aware of his own actions, he found himself kissing her.

As he pulled his head back, the girl's eyes shot open, revealing the bluest eyes Caspian had ever seen.

She breathed heavily, and slowly placed her fingers over her face, as if she couldn't believe she could actually feel it, "I'm alive," she whispered to herself. Then, she turned to Caspian, smiling at him in a way that made him feel funny, "You saved me. Thank you! I am the daughter of the star Ramandu, and your name is?"

Caspian introduced himself, and then asked, "Might I ask why you were in there?"

Ramandu's daughter explained solemnly that it was a Witch's enchantment; she was tricked into wearing a cursed corset and holding her hair in a poison comb (she was unaware at the time that it was poison, obviously) when she was visiting a family of seven dwarves. She had fallen asleep for years, and for that time, the evil Witch had an icy mirror or sorts that allowed her to invade the minds of anyone doubting Aslan. Occasionally, when the Witch doubted that the girl was still asleep, she would send scouts to check up on her. "The glass to the coffin," Ramandu's daughter further explained, "is enchanted. Only he who saw me through the glass as I am would be able to free me. When you look through the glass, you see an imitation of what someone you love looks like. For example, some people who were in here earlier, the boy saw me with red-brown hair and features similar to one of the girls with him, she saw me looking like her sister, and the eldest saw me with blonde hair and similar features to whoever is the man that she's in love with."

"Then what about me?" Caspian asked, "I saw you for what you really are like." He thought on this before, "Oh…" He understood, then. It was supposed to be love. Caspian knew he was interested in Ramandu's daughter, but he didn't know if he was quite in love with her yet. His feelings were a great deal more than like, but he didn't know if it was quite to love. But it could get there, and he certainly wouldn't mind getting there sooner than later.

They took hands as they just stood there on the rotting wood, talking. He told of his adventures with the gypsies, and even before that in Telmar. She talked of her father and what it was like to be asleep in the coffin for ages.

Apparently, she wasn't a complete vegetable and was aware of what was going on around her. She relayed the story of the three that came earlier in the year, "I haven't thought about them until now," she said, "but now I wonder what happened to them. I hope they got away safely…Caspian? What's the matter?"

Caspian had turned an uncomely shade of pale, from the relay of what had happened with the travelers, wolf, and hag it sounded an awful lot like three people he had known, two of which he had been reasonably close to, and the third he just got on the wrong end of the arrow with, quite literally. He told this to Ramandu's daughter.

"They've probably been captured." She said, "If not by the wolf then, by something else later. Wolves don't give up easily. They've probably been taken away to the Witch's castle. If they are your friends, you must go to them, and help them. Or the eldest might have a similar fate to mine, without the happy ending."

"You'll be all right?" Caspian asked, not out of common courtesy, but because he wanted to make sure.

"Yes," Ramandu's daughter spoke as if she was suddenly very tired, "I should be getting back to Father, it's been years."

"When I'm done helping my friends, may I come back and see you?"

"Yes," was all she said, but she smiled in such a way that made Caspian knees turn into jelly.

"Then I promise it. As soon as I'm able, I'll come back and see you."

The star's daughter smiled again, and this time, Caspian knew that, whenever exactly had happened, he had fallen in love with her.

_XXXXXXXXXX_

_Caspian finishes his story. It turns out that he had gone out looking for us and ended up here, in this horrible place, before us._

_He had been in Susan's and my old town, they had rebuilt it, and they put up a memorial. In that alone, it's settling to know that they haven't all been forgotten. One thing confuses me though; the Order of the Lion's Song is just that. I wonder what that's about? Mum never once mentioned anything of the sort in her diary, if I get the chance, I'll have to ask Tumnus about it, he'll be more likely to know._

_Presently, my mind shifts from my old town, to the other portion of Caspian's story. The part in the cottage, with Ramandu's daughter and the curse, is what I'm thinking of now._

_It feels more like a fairytale than truth, but it's both._

_I used to wish my life could be like a fairytale. I always thought that, if given the chance, I'd just know what to do, like the heroines in the fairy tales. I don't know what to think._

_What they did to Ramandu's daughter, is that what they're going to try and do to Susan? Trap her forever for their own wicked needs? I've known this for a while, I think, but it's never seemed more real than now._

_What now, then? We're all sitting here, now that the story's over. I don't look up at the back wall, at the dead people; thinking about it alone is enough to make my stomach churn._

_Out of nowhere, the door from up the stairs opens, and with the whisk of cold air, the fire blows out. The beautiful white fire, that gave warmth and a sense of light in this dark, dark room._

_I bite my lip and lean in more to Susan, she's got a hand on her belly and her breathing is so uneven and choppy. We're all terrified out of our wits._

_The troll thing is back at the cell door. The icy door sharply opens, creaking in such a way that hurts my ears._

_Next thing I know, the troll grabs both my and Susan's arm and roughly drags us to our feet. It happens so quickly that everyone's reaction time is off. We're both out of the cell by the time that the boys are even on their feet._

_Susan and I are thrown once again to Minotaurs, and dragged up the stairs. Just as the cell disappears out of view on the icy stair, I hear the rattling of iron bars and Edmund's voice shout out something, I can't tell what though._

_All I hear is the sound of banging metal before I'm thrown up to the top of the stairs and pulled down the icy hall to the left, while Susan's being pulled in the opposite direction._

**A/N: (Flinches) So…how'd I do? This was my first time even attempting to write anything with Ramandu's daughter in it, so I'm curious to know how I did. I'd also like to know any comments you have on descriptions and the pace, both of which I'm not entirely sure how I did. **

…**is this chapter corny or is that just me?**


	24. Grass To Silver

_Although I try to get away, I kick and pull and try to run, I'm not strong enough. The Minotaur pulls on my hair and punches me on the small of my back, and tells me that if I don't stop being difficult the end will come sooner than I think it will._

_I'm shoved into a room; the intense heat burns my skin. In the jagged fireplace there's a heavy, evil fire, so different from the kind that my phoenix feather gives. It's malevolent; I'm sure that if it left the fireplace, the entire room would burst into complete flame. The air is heavy and smoky as I try to cough it out of my lungs._

_The same hag with the necklace around her wrist grabs me now, her yellow, bug-infested fingernails making my already bruised and cut arms bleed._

_I'm thrown against a large splintery board standing up against a wall. The momentum knocks all the wind out of me, like taking a sucker punch to the stomach. I black out for a few seconds, but come to focus again when I feel something slither around my arms._

_At first I think it's snakes, something green coiling around my arms, but then I see the leaves. It's vines! My nightmare! So that's what it meant? It's completely literal? I'm going to be strangled by vines?_

_Maugrim enters the chamber and barks at the hag, who goes into the corner._

_"Do you know what was said to happen to Snow White's mother after she poisoned her with the apple?" The Wolf asks me, I can't help but stare at his razor sharp canines._

_Yes, of course I know, after the Queen was caught, the courtiers heated a pair of iron slippers over red-hot coals and made her "dance" in them at Snow White's wedding until she fell over dead._

_The hag is now holding up the signally most ugly pair of metal shoes I have even seen, she goes and puts them over the raging fire._

_Maugrim turns his back to me and heads into another room, barking behind his back to the hag, "Wake me when they turn red!" _

_Oh no…_

XXXXX

Susan sat in a large pile of long, uprooted grass. She had already been pushed and shoved into the large room. All high ceilings, there seemed to be a sort of door up in a corner where the wall met the ceiling. Against the walls of the room, closer to the ground, there were enormous stacks of the uprooted grass, each piece almost a foot long, wall to wall and floor to ceiling. Everywhere else, there was a sort of silver on large spools, as if it was thread. In the center of the room, in the small portion that wasn't covered with silver or grass, there was a large black spinning wheel. She had nearly twisted her ankle on the stool when she was thrown in.

Thankfully, the brutality she had put up with being forced into the room didn't force her into labor, but she didn't know how much more rough treatment she could take. The two options seemed to be; go into labor and have the children where she was, resulting in all three of them catching their deaths, or simply dying in whatever way was planned.

A wave of nausea hit Susan momentarily. Oh no, she thought, not a contraction. Thinking back, she realized that it was quite awhile since her last contraction, and it was quite a bit of a relief. The absolutely last thing she needed was to go into labor where she was.

Suddenly, the door creaked open, and a long triangular beam of cold light fell into the room. Inside the doorway, stood something that looked like a three-foot high bundle of icy cloth and hair. It was the same dwarf in the frostbitten cap that had pulled a knife on Edmund earlier.

The dwarf said nothing, but sat down immediately at the stool beside the spinning wheel. He carefully tucked his black-gray, disgusting beard into his shirt before grabbing a cluster of grass in his grubby hands and putting it on the spinning wheel as it began to spiral.

"What are you doing?" Susan asked, placing a protective hand over her stomach, using her other hand to prop herself up on the stack of grass. She noticed that as the grass went through the wheel, it went through a sort of transformation, while the bobbin circled, a shining silver thread was covering it. It wasn't just silver colored, either; it was truly a wiry sort of silver.

The dwarf continued spinning. "This is what her Majesty wants," he finally said, "I am going to help her begin the Winter."

She could have guessed that much, well; she had to attempt to get out of it. But how? What was that they were going to try to do? Get her blood to fall on that silver spun from grass, wasn't it? In that case, she had to try to talk the dwarf out of even spinning the grass into silver. To do that, she figured she had to try and appeal to the dwarf's better nature. There was one person that she knew could do that far better than anyone else, so, she began to think, what would Lucy say in this scenario? At last she said, "Why? Why would you want to do something like that?" The tone possibly came out colder than she would've liked, it could match the temperature of any room in that castle.

"It's what the Queen wants, and what she wants must be so," the dwarf repeated.

Trying a different approach, Susan got closer to the dwarf simply for the affect. "Please, I'm begging you, stop."

The dwarf actually stopped spinning, it's fleshy face turned toward Susan, "You can't get something for nothing. If I do stop, what would you give me?"

Susan drew a blank. "I don't have anything to give you," she said.

"I think you do," the dwarf said, pointing to her stomach.

"What?" Susan asked, "you want my…my babies?" The idea out in the open was certainly cringe-worthy. Someone taking the two little things that had been growing inside her for what seemed like forever, it was a queer proposition, whether or not she actually considered it for a moment, well, she's too ashamed to ever admit.

The dwarf nodded with perhaps too much zeal, "You never wanted them. They're parasites to you. Give them to me; I'll care for them. You won't be able to live the same way with children. Do you really think that Peter even thinks of you in the same way after you got pregnant? Do you think you're as beautiful to him now?"

"Well, I—" Susan began, but then something clicked, "hang on, how do you know Peter's name? Or, that I thought of my babies as parasites, for that matter? I only ever told Lucy."

The dwarf could tell that he said something he wasn't supposed to, as he was back at the spinning wheel, working harder than he was before.

Susan thought about it, remembering Caspian's story, what the star's daughter was asleep for was a mirror that allowed the Witch to invade the mind of others. Could it be that Susan had been invaded, and if so, how much? Was it possible that crossing the country wasn't necessary? Could she have stayed back east and just married Peter then? She realized that her doubt in Peter could possibly have been the invasion of her mind, and possibly thinking of the babies as parasites could have been the same reason; but all the same, it still could have just been an invention of her own mind. Either way, it was a bit much to bear.

The dwarf continued spinning, continuously putting a new spool on the bobbin, and keeping the wheel moving. It was, perhaps, double-time to any time that Susan had ever seen anyone at a spinning wheel.

For some reason, Susan's eyes flicked upward for a very brief moment, but in that brief moment she saw the door next to the ceiling open slowly. In the tunnel behind the doorway, she was able to see Caspian crouching inside it. He put a finger to his lips and turned his torso towards that back, revealing a quiver full of arrows strapped to his back.

Nearly all the grass in that part of the room had become spun into silver, by the time that Caspian and snuck up behind him. Susan took a moment to exchange a glance with Caspian, who was placing an arrow onto his crossbow string.

Susan never quite liked crossbows, perhaps because they were only popular in Telmar, and in Narnia, the classic bow and arrow was what was used for hunting, sport, and wars. In a moment, Caspian let go of the trigger and released an arrow into the dwarf's shoulder.

Quickly, Caspian tied up and blindfolded the wounded dwarf. "You alright?" He asked, handing Susan her own bow and quiver.

"I think so." There was a small moment of silence, "how'd you get out of prison?"

"Edmund," he said, "when he's angry…well let's just say, he literally can beat up a troll through bars just to get the keys."

Attempting to visualize that in her head, Susan couldn't really do that. She didn't have a very good imagination, so she couldn't very well, but it wasn't hard to believe. All she said was, "Well, that was rather specific."

They stood around, while Caspian explained that they had to wait there for Edmund, he was taking the long way down the hall and is going to knock on the door, but until then they just had to wait.

They stood in the room for perhaps a minute or two more, when there was a loud knock on the door, a moment of silence, and then two quick knocks intruding the room. "That would be Edmund," Caspian said, going to the door to open it.

Sure enough, Edmund stood in the doorway, a hand on the hilt of his sword. When he realized that they were alright, he relaxed and noticed the dwarf tied up by the spinning wheel. "What on earth is Ginarrbrik doing here? I didn't know that she'd let him do something this important to her. That's really weird. I see you're conscious Susan, what's up?"

Susan couldn't help but wonder if adrenaline always made Edmund talk that quickly and randomly, and for a moment she thought of Lucy on Christmas when she was trying to surprise her. It was the first time ever since they got separated that she had thought about her little sister. There would be time to feel bad about that later, but at the moment, they needed to find her. "Where's Lucy?"

"Well," Caspian said, "we're going to get her next. We figured that you'd have the…quicker fate between the two of you."

Edmund chimed in next, "See, I figured that the Witch would use bewitched spiders or something like that to spin the grass to make it go faster…not a dwarf. Now I see that we probably should have went after Lucy first, it doesn't look like Ginarrbrik would've been done all that quickly." He walked over to the blindfolded dwarf and tug on his beard sharply, lifting the dwarf up a good few feet into the air, "Alright, Ginarrbrik, you know where they took Lucy, and you're going to tell us."

XXXXXXXXXX

Although he used to live in that castle, Edmund still had a hard time finding places; it was like a maze. It had been like that his entire life, some corridors would lead nowhere, others to places, and sometimes you had to go across a specific torture chamber to get into the armory, but other times you don't. And, sometimes the creatures you'd find roaming the halls were worse than the labyrinth of Crete.

They slid through the shadows, him in the lead, hand on his sword, Susan in the middle, fingers on the drawstrings of her bow and arrow, and Caspian at the end, ready to fight the same as the others.

The one flawed thing about sneaking in the shadows was that everything that Edmund had ever learned about sneaking and deviousness, he had learned from the hags, ogres, hobgoblins and other despicable creatures roaming about in the castle. They were mostly stupid creatures, but they were smart enough to notice their own tricks. Would he run into them?

It was difficult to say where they were keeping Lucy. He knew she had to be in a torture chamber of some sort, but there were at least thirty torture chambers in the west wing alone. He had to narrow it down.

They were probably going to make her dance, which seemed to be a favorite of that hag. Just thinking about those iron slippers made Edmund's feet throb and remember burns of the past that should have been long forgotten. There was no way he would let them do that to his Lucy. No way.

That meant that the torture would have to do with fire, which meant that it wouldn't be in the east wing. Luckily that meant that they wouldn't have to cross the castle. If he could get out of this without having to see the Witch, his entire philosophy might change. Perhaps, greater beings in the world did care about normal people, and even people that didn't deserve to live but wanted an out. Maybe there was hope.

As the three continually crept in the shadows, attempting to check to see if the chambers were empty by pressing an ear to the icy doors.

"How are we going to figure out where Lucy is? This place is huge. " Susan's voice quavered from behind Edmund in a whisper. This was the first time any of them spoke since leaving the chamber where Susan had been kept, "There has to be something. How did you figure out where I was?"

Caspian said something so quietly that Edmund couldn't even hear it, but he knew what it must be; "We figured it out, they had said some things before about using you to start their Winter, and apparently, there's a special chamber for that."

In the dim light, and out of the corner of his eye, Edmund saw something move, or rather _slither _under a nearby door. "Hey, Susan?" he asked, somewhat distracted by the slithering thing, "Lucy never mentioned anything to you about…plants coming alive, has she?" He vaguely remembered Lucy asking him about it once, in a time that seemed forever ago, back when they had first met again.

Susan cocked an eyebrow, "Actually…I think so, once, with her nightmares…but, that's all they were. I don't see how it's relevant--"

"It is." Edmund said, "They use it sometimes, magic vines, to suffocate their enemies. I knew something was up when she mentioned it to me. Look over there," he gestured to the corner where, surely enough, there was a sickly looking vine moving in the space under the door.

They all exchanged a look that was obvious what it said; she's in there.

Caspian put his crossbow at the ready; he also had a sword at his hip, but figured it might be more useful to use the crossbow at first. Susan pulled on her bowstrings, ready to let go at any moment. Edmund put one hand on his sword, and the other went onto the frostbitten door, as he was ready to open it and put up a fight. Susan nodded at him, to tell him to open the door; they were ready for anything. Anything, that is, but what was really on the other side.

Lucy. Just Lucy, she was completely alone, no guards, no restraints. All three lowered their weapons.

XXXX Two Minutes Earlier XXXX

_I don't know how hot the shoes are yet; I can't move at all, and I can't see them. The vines have a sort of quicksand effect, the more I move, the tighter and more lethal the plant's grip gets._

_When I struggled initially, nearly all circulation on my arms was cut. Then came my torso, it's being squeezed slowly, deflating me. Now I feel the cold, sharp vine circle around my throat, and I'm afraid to breathe. I don't think that it's ever going to get as bad as to actually kill me, but I think they want to make me as weak as possible, probably to make the actual killing quicker. _

_Well, I've never been afraid of death, but the thing is, I don't want to die. Not now, not like this. _

_There's a slight noise, like whispering coming out from the hallways. The hag looks up, and curses. She grabs some sort of black dust, and throws it on the ground near me, a smoky black wall of sorts surrounds me, I can still see everything, but I get the feeling that no one else can see me. _

_The horrible hag enters the smoky walls surrounding me; she takes some of my hair and cuts it off with her razor-sharp fingernail. The next thing that happens, I can hardly describe it, it's just awful. She opens up her beak and swallows the lock of hair she cut from my head, and, in a moment, there's no hag standing before me but, well, a battered up Lucy Pevensie. _

_Somehow, the hag transformed herself to look like me; the only difference is that she still has the necklace wrapped around her thin wrist. _

_It's odd hearing my own voice from right in front of me, "Oh, don't worry," then, from out of the dress that looks exactly like mine, she pulls a uneven-looking stone knife, and horrible wicked smile sits on my features in front of me, "I'll take care of them." _

_I want to scream, but the vines have made their way over my mouth. _

**A/N: Darn it! I really didn't mean to make this a cliffhanger. I was going to revise it, but then I realized that I quite liked this the way it was. **


	25. Not Lucy

_I look over to the door and, to my dismay, I see Susan, Edmund, and Caspian are all entering the room and lowering their weapons. What are they doing? No! Don't stay here! Run away!_

_Please, Susan, my sister, know that it isn't me out there. Realize that it's a trap and run away. Get yourself and your babies out of here!_

_Edmund, dear heart, you've already suffered enough in this place, run, get away! Just get away, get out of here and run like the wind, or faster, if you can._

_Caspian, my friend, you made a promise to your love and, if you stay here, you won't be able to keep it. Run! Just run._

_As the vines continue to coil around my mouth, I realize that they're sharp. When I try to scream to warn them, not only do the plants tighten all around me, squeezing what's left of my air away, giving me a drunken sort of feeling, but also all too familiar iron taste of blood comes into my mouth._

_I know that the vines aren't actually going to kill me; they're just there to restrain me and weaken me. Although I don't like to think of such things, I know what torture is and its point and purpose. It's supposed to put such physical and mental agony of someone up until the point that they're literally begging for death, and then, finally, after another moment of pain, the person whose been putting them through all that ends it. Too bad for them, but I won't get to that point. Never will I beg for death. Even if I'm bleeding, blistered, and burned, I won't._

_The hag is talking to them as me. Oh, what's she saying? I can't hear a thing. A little part of me wishes that I could just faint again, faint and be done with it, but the bigger part of me knows that I have to stay awake. Something's going to happen, I just know it. For that, I have to will myself not to faint._

_From the hazy barrier between the rest of the room and myself, I can tell that at least Susan and Edmund, who know me the best, look confused, Caspian too. Good! They should just run now and get out of here._

_No, what are they doing? Why are they walking towards the door with that hag? This is bad, very, very bad._

_Oh Aslan, please Aslan; help us! Help them to see that it isn't me, and let them get away! Please come roaring in and save us the way legends say you do. The way I know you do. They all deserve more to life than to meet this end._

_I can see my body reach for a sheath, like a blacker version of the one I keep my dagger in, and begin to take out the horrible knife._

_Oh, please, no! No!_

_I cannot just stay here and watch this hag pick them off as if they're roaches or beetles! If only I could move, then I could help._

_This is like the worst nightmare I could ever have, but worse, this is reality, and I can't wake up from it to make it go away._

XXXXXXXX

There was something wrong; Susan was able to tell. Ever since they had entered the room and Lucy had started speaking, there was something wrong. Perhaps it was the brusque and overall, un-Lucy-ish way she was speaking, or something else. Susan found herself exchanging several raised-eyebrow glances with Edmund and occasionally Caspian.

What made it all the more stranger, was that Lucy didn't seem to want to leave the torture chamber, with it's smoky hellfire in the corner, and metal slippers a boasting red-hot over it.

They tried to usher the girl out of the room, but she continually found some reason to stay, it was almost as if she were stalling for something. She had said, "How did you all get out of prison?"

When Edmund answered, "I got the keys," that was another thing that made Susan wonder if something was up. At first it just seemed like he was being aloof, which wasn't that strange, but the tone and the look on his face read that he was suspicious of something, either that or Susan was overly-determined to make sure that she wasn't the only one suspicious for an unknown reason.

Then Lucy asked, "How did you--" she had paused, as if trying to find the right words, "find me, anyway?"

Caspian had answered to that, and Susan and Edmund found themselves exchanging a "what the heck?" sort of look. They both knew Lucy far too well to even trick themselves into thinking that the way she was acting was remotely normal for her.

"Lucy," Edmund said slowly, "when we first met, I promised you something. What was it?"

Everyone looked at him strangely, wondering what in the world he was talking about. Lucy folded her arms and said, "What?"

"What did I promise you when we first met?" Edmund said calmly, slowly a hand drifting towards the hilt of his sword.

Susan looked at him, flabbergasted. Was he going to pull that out on Lucy? Yes, she was acting very odd, and yes, there was something very, very shady about the entire picture, but did that give him reason to pull a sword out on her?

Lucy let out a fake, dry laugh, "It was so long ago that I don't remember. But, do you really expect me to? It's not like I remember what you tell me. It's like you think you actually matter. But you don't."

Susan was absolutely appalled with her younger sister's behavior, she let out a sort of gasp noise and attempted to chastise, saying gaped mouth, "Lucy!"

"What? I'm just telling him what he needs to hear, big sister." Lucy said, certain darkness on her face that send the chills down Susan's spine, despite the malicious heat of the room.

Ignoring the chills, Susan said quietly, beginning to catch on to exactly what Edmund's suspicions were, "What's my name?" To the confused look on Lucy's face, she said with stronger force, knowing how much was hinging on the correct answer, "Lucy, what's my name?"

After a moment of what was probably frantic thinking on the youngest girl's part, she said, "Oh, don't be stupid. I know your name, but you interrupted me, and that's rude. Let me finish." She turned again to Edmund, "Where was I? Oh yes. You're worthless and you know it. Believe me, you've made my and my sister's life a whole hell of a lot more difficult than it needed to be. And all because of what? Because you thought you mattered? Because you thought I cared? Because you thought that you could ever be more to me than…than a mosquito buzzing in my ear? Please. You've been wasting your breath since the beginning. You don't matter. You never did."

It was obvious that her words had cut him. He looked weakened and hurt. She had said exactly what she knew would break his heart and, judging by the catty look on her face, that was exactly what she was aiming for.

Edmund was silenced. He opened his mouth to say something, but instead simply tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword. Even though he was silent and had a severe bruise on his ego and heart, only an absolute idiot would think that the look on his face wasn't intimidating. But then, he seemed to get distracted by something in the far corner, he zoned out and seemed to be staring intently at the corner, as if in a trance.

Somehow, without her knowing, Susan had found that she too had her hand on the string of her bow. "What in the world is the matter with you?" she asked. Adrenaline was pumping so hard through her body that she wasn't able to sense a tightening and unpleasant effect in her middle that had taken place only fifteen minutes previous.

The face that appeared to be Lucy's scrunched up, and she started gagging. Susan thought that she looked vaguely like a dumb cat coughing up a hairball.

And, indeed she was coughing up a hairball. Lucy was gagging and coughing, she curled over herself and reached into her mouth and pulled out a clump of reddish-brown hair from her throat. There was a quick flash of light over her wrist as she did so, reflecting from the firelight. It was as if there was something golden hanging on her wrist.

Susan watched incredulously as the familiar face that had looked like her sister's began to change. Bruises and cuts disappeared, her skin began to loosen and flesh out, slowly turning an ugly wrinkled pink mass. Her nose began to change shape, grow longer, curve downward and began to resemble a beak that desperately needed to be filed down to shape. Susan watched in terror as the person who once looked like her little sister began to change even more drastically as she grew taller, more gnarled, and even her gown changed, it broke off her body and seemed to turn into smoke as it changed into a black robe and, finally, revealed the hag, in all her wicked ugliness.

Caspian was the first one to truly act. He had a sword with him along with his crossbow, and held it up to the hag's neck before Edmund had even removed his sword from its sheath.

"What did you do with my sister?" Susan asked, now pulling back on the strings of her bow. She didn't understand how the hag had ever tricked her into thinking that she was Lucy, but there wasn't time to be thinking about that. "Where is Lucy?"

The hag began to cackle, as if she found having a sharp sword pressed to her throat amusing. She laughed louder, and louder still, until she was shrieking high enough and loud enough to break glass.

Susan looked over to the men momentarily. Caspian still held the sword up, but seemed to be looking around as well for something to give them leverage. Edmund seemed to snap out of his trance, he looked at the hag and then his eyes flashed once more to the door in the back of the room, and he seemed to realize what was going on.

Susan stepped forward, towards the hag, and Caspian stepped back, sensing that it was Susan's fight. It wasn't exactly the ideal circumstances for a battle, but she had to do it. She couldn't help but feel a little scared, the sounds of the violent crackling of the fire. Walking in a circle around the hag, Susan found herself halfway in a flashback. A crowded street full of bloody corpses and screaming people, burning to their deaths, herself versus the hag, both when she was nine and when she was eighteen. Her eyes found their way to the golden necklace wound around the gnarled, shriveled wrist.

"Little girl, big girl." The hag sang in her horrible voice, "No matter what you do, you cannot win. The shoes are red-hot. Even if you defeat me there is no saving her. She's dancing as we speak."

Susan's stomach dropped as her eyes darted to the fire in the back of the room and she felt her blood curdle as she came to the horrible realization; the iron shoes were gone.

Edmund noticed too, as he looked straight at the hag, and his voice could match only the heat of the fire in the room, it was pure hatred, something that Susan hadn't truly seen before that day. He spoke not through his teeth, but his voice came clear, strong, and venomous as he shouted, "Damn you!"

Susan felt like a stone moved over her heart, and an unleashed fury was released from within her. Letting go of the string, she saw as her speedy, precise arrow hit its target.

The hag didn't seem to know at first what had happened. She continually cackled, but then seemed to realize the sharpness in her heart. Taking a disgusting hand beside the puncture wound she felt the sticky black substance leaking out from it. It took Susan a moment to realize it was blood. She had once overheard a conversation Lucy had with a black dwarf once about black blood, she remembered Lucy arguing that nothing could be so evil to have a black blood without being a Witch, who didn't even have blood but ichors. It seemed that Lucy was wrong that day, there was something evil enough to have black blood, and Susan had just killed it.

Susan only took a moment to watch the hag fall facedown on the torture chamber floor with an arrow running her body fully through and sticking out of her back.

In a way, Susan had just avenged her mother, as this thought crossed her mind she took back the locket from the dead hag and slipped it over her neck. But then another thought came to her head, and she didn't want to think about it. She didn't want to think that she had just avenged Lucy as well.

XXXXXXXX

Edmund didn't see Susan kill the hag. The moment he was able, he was in the back corner of the room, watching as the vines that had lined up each wall simply disappeared out of nowhere, an empty space. An invisibility spell, he could see. That meant that his Lucy was probably in there.

Unfortunately, when he tried to enter the area that he assumed was what was being kept invisible; there was a sort of force field keeping him out. He punched it once, twice; all he hit was air that was as hard as stone.

Exhaling slowly, he found a cut that he had been given earlier that day, and opened it further, allowing a few beads of his own blood to fall on the field keeping him at bay. He had to make himself weaker and weaker just to get in, and he was already feeling fairly weak, having been kicked, punched, thrown around, and spat on all in less than two hours.

After feeding the space his blood, he tried to enter again. Instead of being pushed out, he felt as if he were walking through smoke, but then found himself inside a smoky cylinder with a horror of its own.

In the middle of the cylinder was Lucy. The same wicked vines that were forcing the red-hot metal shoes onto her feet restrained her to a wooden board. She was screaming and crying at the contact of the hot metal on the soles of her feet. She tried to kick them away, but made contact with the metal shoes as doing so, resulting in all the more tears and panicked screams.

Edmund immediately drew his sword and hacked off the portions of the vine that was pressing the shoes in one her feet. He knew enough about bewitched plants to know that once they're broken, they're dead, just like any plant; if you rip a stem off of a poppy, the whole thing will die.

That, at least, was good news for Edmund, seeing as the plant could not come back to life and kill him, now he just had to make sure Lucy, who was still in a terrified, hysterical fit of shock, wouldn't die too. He threw the shoes off of her feet, the hotness burning his hands in the worst sort of way, reminding him of all the times he had been locked in that room, and everything he had to undergo.

But there was Lucy; her feet were red, raw, blistered and completely useless. He could see the mixture of blood and water covering each foot.

He then grabbed the vines around her middle and began to work at cutting them. Lucy looked down at him, she was still hysterical however, and continued on crying. The vines were rubbery and hard to break with his hands, and he was afraid that his sword was too broad to not cut Lucy with, but then he remembered her dagger. He had it with him. Slowly, he took out the dagger with matching jewels to his sword and began to slice away at the vines.

Soon, her middle was done, her legs were free, and her mouth was no longer gagged. He hadn't even finished it and he felt entirely sick. There she was, his Lucy, tear stained, beaten, bruised, burnt, cut, and hysterical. She looked like she was an inch from death.

He used her dagger only twice more to cut her hands free, and she fell forward and onto his chest, not being able to support herself with her feet anymore.

She looked at him, wide-eyed, as if, even though she had seen him since he entered, she had just wrapped her head around the fact that he really was there.

She shook for a moment, and then murmured only one word before flinging her arms around him, "Edmund?" Her voice cracked when she said it, it was scary and sad, yes, but also a relief; she was alive.

He found himself holding her up; her legs were on either side of his torso as she clung to him as if she were a baby monkey of sorts. He held onto her back and waist, he turned his head once to kiss her bruised cheek, first to reassure her that everything was going to be alright, but then he repeated it a few more times, simply because it reassured him.

XXXXXXX

_I've never gone through anything so scary before in my life. It was so painful; I don't think there are words to describe it, other than torture. Plain, horrible torture, that's all it was._

_I'm here, Edmund rescued me, and I don't think I'm quite in my right mind yet. I can't think of much right now._

_My feet hurt, and I'm still bruised, battered, and broken._

_Edmund rescued me…he's here; I'm in his arms, and we're both trying to tell ourselves that it's going to be alright._

_I don't know if we're trying to fool ourselves, or if we're being honest with ourselves._

_I'm scared, but we have to move on, or else we might never see the light of day again._


	26. Smoke and Mirrors

_I'm carried out of the smoky cylinder on Edmund's back, in my hands is my dagger and my thumb traces the pattern on the handle. Odd, how I never noticed the intricate pattern engraved in the ruby handle before._

_Just sitting in Edmund's arms and moving my thumb, I come to a warmer realization than I've had in a long while. My circulation is slowly coming back to my body, and I'm feeling much more alive than I had. Strange, I had barely realized that I was feeling more dead than alive a few minutes ago; actually, I hadn't realized much of anything._

_It's hasn't been long since I was rescued, but my head's far clearer, but still somewhat shaky. At least now I can carry a straight thought, but I'm not sure I want to. Things look very grim from where we're standing, but all we can do is find a way out._

_Oh, how I'm aching! Parts of my arms and legs are cut raw from vines, and the insides of my cheeks are bleeding. I don't even want to think about my feet; maybe if I don't think about them, the pain might go away._

_I enter the main part of the chamber, and I can see Susan and Caspian talking. I think that they're wondering about where Edmund is, or where I am, because Caspian points in our general direction. Susan turns around and faces me; she looks happy to see me alive, but concerned about my condition. I can only imagine what I look like, if I look at all the way I feel._

_Edmund moves me off his back and into a different position with one of his arms under my thighs and the other on the small of my back, keeping me in a sitting position._

_It's kind of awkward to embrace my sister, considering that I can't stand up, and that her stomach is too big, still we manage. I love Susan, she's my sister, and so our awkward hug is, in its own way, a relief._

_I notice the hag dead on the floor, but I decide not to mention it; I probably don't want to know anyways. What I do mention is that Susan got Mum's old necklace back, which pretty much solves the mystery of what killed the hag._

_Caspian walks up to me and puts his hand on my shoulder. I let him in on the hug, even though I think he finds it rather uncomfortable. After that's all done, he looks down and then asks me what happened to my feet._

_Here's where Susan realizes exactly why Edmund's still holding me. She looks at the bottoms of my feet and turns sheet white. "You're all burnt up. What happened back there?" She sends an angry sort of look in Edmund's direction, as if it's his fault._

_I wish that she'd just stop blaming him for everything. Unfortunately, I can't say anything because, suddenly, I'm plagued with sudden memories of burning metal against my bare skin, burning the sensitive flesh away._

_I cringe, but then stop. I can't let myself get caught up in what just happened, or what would have happened if Edmund didn't come and save me in time, we need to get out of here. I vocalize this thought, and we decide to get going. Edmund has to carry me, so it's up to me to keep a hand on my dagger—just in case. I'd rather not have to use it, but if I do, at least it'll be there._

_Caspian has his hand on the doorknob, and asks us if we're ready to go, and we all nod. Well, we're all more than ready to leave, but I don't think it's quite possible to be ready to wander these icy hallways at all. I just hope that we'll be able to find an exit—and quick, seeing as Susan's got her hand on her belly, and I don't know how long it's been since her last contraction._

XXXXXXXX

If Edmund had thought that it had been difficult navigating through the icy corridors before, it was at least ten times harder with Lucy on his back. It wasn't that she was particularly heavy, though she did end up being a tad heavier than her skinny figure would let on, or maybe he was just weaker than normal. Whatever the answer was, it all summed up to say that it was rather hard to carry her, not that he'd let Caspian do it. When Caspian had offered to carry Lucy for awhile while they figured a way out, Edmund had quickly thought up the lame excuse of Caspian having more weapons on him, so it was better for him to be able to fight if need be, and he claimed that he'd be able to run faster, anyway, so it would be better for getting Lucy to safety. That last part was a bald-faced lie, he was having trouble walking with Lucy on his back, and he knew he wouldn't be able to run. Still, he'd rather carry Lucy across the entire country than let Caspian carry her through one hall of the castle for a minute. It wasn't that he was jealous; it was just that he'd hold himself personally responsible if anything happened to Lucy, so it might as well happen on his watch, if anything was to happen at all. Which it wouldn't; he wouldn't let it. He wouldn't let anything happen to Susan, either; he had to admit that she had grown on him.

It was a difficult transition from the hellish heat of the torture chamber, to the icy coldness of the rest of the castle. He could feel his sweat freezing to his body, and several of his cuts began to burn from the coldness. Not wanting to imagine the pain Lucy must be having, he tightened his grip on the girl's legs just so that she wouldn't be hurt from his grip, and just so that she couldn't be snatched out from behind him by some goblin.

Not that some goblin coming up from behind them and attacking was likely; they hadn't seen anything in the corridors at all, and that was strange. In all of Edmund's memories, there were horrible things wandering around nearly all the time; hags, Minotaurs, dwarfs, imps, or demonic creatures of the sort. Now the passageways were all nearly empty.

He felt Lucy's breath tickle his ear as she whispered, "Do you think we could just get out of one of the windows?"

Only if we want to break our necks, he thought. Instead of saying this, however, he simply shook his head no and whispered, "Nah, I think we're a little too high up for that."

Susan was in front of them, with Caspian in front of her. She stopped, grabbing Caspian's sleeve so that he wouldn't go on without them and whispered quietly, "Don't you think we're going the wrong way? We're bound not to find an exit in the very middle of this place. Can't we just get out the way we came? Why do we have to go deeper into the castle now?"

"I don't think we've thought about it," Caspian said, seeming to just then realize that they were, in fact, complicating things, "but does anyone remember the way that we did come in?"

"Of course not, this entire place is a maze," Edmund said, shifting Lucy's position on his back yet again.

Susan let her bow relax for a moment in her grasp, just to say, "I'm sorry, but, what?"

Edmund further explained, "It's designed to get you confused. The narrow hallways, rooms every three paces, even the way the halls turn. It's all smoke and mirrors. Some doors aren't even doors, it's just something (or someone) pretending."

The thought, however true it was, wasn't all that settling to any of the four, and they decided to press onward, not knowing which way was out, it was a better idea just to keep moving forward until they found an exit.

They slunk around corners, Susan, Caspian, and Lucy all had their hands on their weapons, and they kept telling themselves that they were ready for a fight.

Still, they knew that it wasn't true. Susan was pregnant and her stamina was drawing thin. Lucy was unable to even stand, much less fight. Edmund had to carry Lucy, and therefore, was left basically unarmed. The only one who was really in any condition to fight was Caspian, and the fact that it was one against any number of demons lurking in the shadows, was very, very unsettling to not only him, but also the whole of the four.

After a few more minutes of slinking in the shadows, they found themselves in what seemed to be a sort of foyer, with two very large, frozen, doors with intricate knockers in the center sat on either wall. Shadows loomed everywhere, like smoke, but the odd thing was, there was nothing but their own forms to make the shadows, and Susan supposed that that's what was making the shadows from the beginning, and they were just so riled up, that they were getting mildly frightened by their own shadows. She stopped the group yet again. "You know," she whispered, "we aren't going to get out of here if we don't try to open any doors," she said  
ticking her head towards the nearest door. It was only after she said this, however, that she decided to get a decent look at the door.

The large knocker was a very queer thing if you looked at it; it was in the shape of a woman's face. The woman wasn't ugly, but she had more of a man's features it seemed, with a sharp angle of the jaw, a cleft in the chin, and dull, but big and strong eyes. But then, the knocker part itself, it was a sort of deformity, a snake spurting out of her mouth, only to recoil back into it. It took Susan a while to realize that it was supposed to be her tongue, and she wished she hadn't mentioned trying to open a door at that particular door.

"You're right," Caspian said, choosing to ignore the rather disturbing doorknocker, "but we could also end up dead if we open the wrong door."

Just then, as if on cue, the doorknocker sprang to life, "That's the idea," it said, in a contemptuous voice with a rather high pitch, but, surprisingly enough, it seemed to be the snake tongue doing all the talking. The snake coiled and twisted in the lady's mouth.

"Doorknockers don't talk," Susan whispered lamely, silently hoping that she was only imagining things.

"See my door?" The snaky thing said, "And see the door across the corridor? One of the two you must choose. Listen closely, now. I don't do well with repeats. One door leads to safety, and the other leads to a horrible death. You may ask me a single question for the whole of you, but I always lie."

"Okay," Lucy said, trying to figure out the riddle, "if you ask it which way is safety…then it'll tell you which one leads to death…is that it?"

"Or," Caspian said, "is it the other way around?"

"I don't know!" Lucy said, biting her already bloody lip.

Edmund seemed upset with himself and said, "I learned this before, but I can never remember it!"

"Time's up," the doorknocker said.

"I have a question," Susan said, and she was more annoyed than she had ever been in her life. "What is the purpose of having one door with a horrible death behind it? I mean, there are thousands of other ways to die here; the drapery can probably kill you! Do you really need to have a door to kill people? And anyway, if you always lie, how do we know that you aren't lying about the 'one door leading to safety and the other to death' bit? And, honestly, I'm getting really tired of all this fairytale nonsense that's followed my life for the last nine months. So just silence yourself and show us the way out," she had an arrow pointed towards the door. She didn't know what good it would do, but she was angry, and didn't much care.

The doorknocker grinned horribly, and said, "It hasn't been following your life; it is your life. Or, perhaps I should say, it was your life. But, go ahead, take the door across from mine then," and with a sharp inhaling noise, and a quick loop of the snake tongue, the whole of the doorknocker was dead again.

"So," Lucy asked after a moment's silence, "which door do we take? Since, Susan said to show us the way out, and then the knocker said to take the door across from hers, but she said she always lies…so would it be to take hers?"

"Unless she was lying about lying as Susan suggested," Edmund said. "Oh… and Susan? The drapes have actually killed someone."

"Brilliant," was all that Susan could grudgingly mutter as she stepped through the huge door and into what was, for her, the beginning of the end of the fairytale that she didn't even want in the first place.

XXXXXXXXX

What they had found behind the doors, looked to Caspian like a throne room. A horrible, cold, icy throne room that made the castle back in Telmar look like heaven, but a throne room nonetheless.

The room looked mainly empty, besides from the enormous throne on the far wall. It looked entirely made out of ice, frostbitten furs lined the seat, and the back went up as far as the eye could see, only to end in what he was sure to be jagged points on the very top.

On the back wall, to the side, was a long spiraling staircase that looked long, slippery, and rather wicked. But, in what must have been the front of the room, or the entrance to the room, there were two enormous double doors. It only took Caspian a moment to figure out that they must lead to the courtyard. They did make the right choice after all!

Edmund didn't seem to agree however, he nearly dropped Lucy as he panicked murmured, "We should've taken the other door."

Caspian didn't quite understand, they could see the door; it was right there. If they quickly moved towards it, they were possibly home free, unless there were armies in the courtyard, but he hoped that wouldn't be the case.

It was just then, that he heard a precise sound, a regular thumping on the icy ground that was scary enough to stop his frozen breath from leaving his body. With a trembling hand on the hilt of his sword, as he felt it more of a moment for close combat if anything else, but when he turned, he felt as if his heart died from terror. For, right in front of the throne, about to take a seat on the furs, was the tallest woman Caspian had ever seen. She was covered in furs up to her chin, but her face was beautiful, frightening and terrible, but beautiful all the same. He knew right then and there that they were face-to-face with the Witch.

Suddenly, out of the murky shadows, something kicked Caspian's sword out of its sheath, and the next thing he knew, an Orc with skin smelling as rotting meat does was holding him with his arms behind his back.

Caspian was beginning to understand why Edmund said that they should've taken the other door.

XXXXXXXXXXX

_I've never before even thought to picture what the White Witch looked like. It just wasn't something that I ever thought about, I prefer to wonder exactly what Aslan's mane looks like when the light catches it. But I know that, if I ever did bother to wonder, I'd never be able to guess the extreme terribleness in the Witch's face._

_I look backwards to see Caspian, who's been disarmed and is being held back by a thing that looks rather like a stocky, disturbing-looking man. He doesn't look like he's in pain, but he does look frightened._

_Nothing is trying to take Susan away, probably either because they sense that Caspian's the only one who really could fight, or else they need Susan relatively unharmed for their horrible plan for her. She, too, is rather abstracted by the Witch. Her eyes flit around, and I can really, truly tell, that she's absolutely terrified._

_I'm still clinging as hard as I can to Edmund's back, but it's harder to stay on. Ever since the Witch entered the room, Edmund's straightened his back more, and he's frozen to the spot. But he looks like he's nearly at the breaking point…the breaking point of what, though?_

_I'm terrified, just standing in the same room with the Witch, and I haven't had any past conflictions with her, so I really don't have the slightest clue to what's going on in Edmund's head right now, but whatever it is, I have to try and stop it. I have to try and distract him._

_"Edmund," I say as clearly as my nervous voice will allow, "look at me. I need you to look me in the eyes and don't look away."_

_He turns his brown eyes towards me, but they advert a second later, and I know that he's trying as hard as he can, trying to the point of bursting, to remain the person he's become in his time away from the Witch and his evil upbringing._

_Edmund, remember; just remember that you aren't what you were. Remember that who you are, and what you were, are two completely different things. I don't know what's going on in your head, but just remember. Just remember._

_I want to tell him, but I feel colder than I have ever before, it's the kind of cold that tries to reach your heart and attack your soul, but I can't let the cold get to me, because if I do, we'll all end up dead for sure. I've still got my heart, and in my heart, I know what we won't die here, or, well, I'm hoping, at least._


	27. Faustian Bargain

_I've never been this afraid in my entire life. This is the kind of fear that rises from the deepest pit of your stomach and ascends to your throat where it catches, resulting in your feeling queasy and as if there's a large lump caught in your windpipe. And yet, I can't concentrate on that very much, all I can really concentrate on is my own fear._

_From behind me, in the back of the room, I hear Caspian make a sort of noise that can only be described as a moan. I twist my head to the side to get a small look at him; thankfully enough, there isn't any blood. I just realized what compelled me to look back at him; I was afraid that they were going to kill him. _

_I'm slipping out from Edmund's grip, or rather; I'm beginning to fall. He's trembling, I realize. _

_Susan looks absolutely defenseless, and it scares me even more than I already was. She's supposed to be the one who's strong, she always has been, and I just figured that she always would be. Now, however, it looks like it might be up to me to be brave—because I'm sure as heck not strong. _

_Now, it's so strange, I'm scared, yes, scared out of my wits. But I need to calm myself. _

_It doesn't matter that I'm scared. We're going to get out of here; this can't be the end. _

_It just can't be. _

_Why then, does it feel like it? Why does it seem so…hopeless? _

_The thought remains in my head. Hopeless. I don't think the word has ever really been clear to me, but now I think I get it. To feel hopeless is to feel like the fire in your heart has simmered down to barely the smallest spark, like you're in a tunnel with no light at the end. Like you're in a crash of some sort and no one comes and rescues you. I realize this now, and I don't like it at all. _

_When I stop thinking, I find myself on the floor. Edmund must have been shaking so badly that he dropped me. It might've hurt to fall on the ground, but I can't feel it. Adrenaline is pumping so hard through me that I can hear it loud in my ears, and I can barely feel anything at all. _

_He hasn't been able to settle his eyes on anything but the Witch since she entered, but now he turns to face me, and offers his arms to pick me up again. _

_Instead of taking it, I see beyond him to Susan, who's made eye contact with me, and then flits her eyes over to where the Witch is sitting. I look over to where Susan wants me to. On the stony white face of the Witch, I see what appears to be a smile. A cold, cruel smile. It takes me awhile to realize exactly why the smile sits on her features. _

_Peter once told me a battle strategy is to gain the advantage of your enemy, and one way to do that is to find their weakness. _

_The Witch just found Edmund's weakness. _

_It's me. _

XXXXXXX

"Edmund, dear." The Witch said, her voice dripping in pseudo-kindness, "I've missed you. I see you have brought the One to begin the Winter, as you promised long ago. But you always knew you would. You don't belong out in that world."

From slightly behind him, Edmund heard Susan loudly whisper out, "What?!" in a sense that she was figuring it all out. Damn, they were all going to figure it out. Susan would find out his final secret first, and Caspian would definitely follow, and that would be bad enough. But Lucy would surely figure it out as well. And then she'd be angry, which was something that he certainly didn't want. But what could he do to stop it? Absolutely nothing, he was petrified to the spot. He was a scared little eight-year-old boy, stuck inside his nearly seventeen-year-old body.

The Witch continued on with her pseudo-kindness. But, what if it wasn't pseudo-kindness at all, what if it was true? What if he had been inventing all these horrible things for all these years? He figured that he had a pretty decent imagination, so why couldn't he have been? He must have been imagining everything from the get-go.

Slowly, he began lowering his guard. Even if he hadn't been imagining everything, it wasn't the Witch who had done all those things; it was Maugrim, or the hag. It wasn't the Witch—the Queen, at all. Why, she probably didn't even know! He had been rather unfair all these years. Why, even—

"Edmund! Stop it, you're scaring me." Lucy's voice brought him out of his thoughts. Her face, scared, bruised and bleeding, in a flash, he recalled the little round face all those years ago. Back then, curiosity ruled out fear, and now that was all that was on her face.

Analyzing what he had just been thinking, Edmund swore to himself, cursing his stupidity. He had been playing mind games with the Witch all his life, and he nearly fell into the trap yet again. For someone who had so much experience with all this, he really was stupid. How thick could you get? He couldn't help but wonder just that.

Turning his head towards the front of the room, he yelled to the Witch, "Liar!" and watched the wall of pseudo-kindness drop.

His eardrums popped loudly in his head as he heard the Witch project her voice clearly through the room, "Take them."

In mere seconds, a black and white tiger was crouching just before Susan, ready to attack on orders. She was a pounce away from taking a serious blow to the stomach, resulting in two stillborn babies, and an infection to kill the mother. Needless to say, it was not exactly something she wanted to think of.

She shuddered slightly, and out of pure habit, placed a hand over her bulging stomach, as if that would help anything at all. The constant adrenaline rush wasn't very healthy, and she was beginning to get a headache. The room spun around her, and she saw in double as she struggled to get a good view at the tiger threatening her. What was the matter with her?

Meanwhile, an imp, about a foot tall, with frostbitten fingers and a devious grin climbed up Lucy's back and proceeded to pull on her hair and clamber over her face. She experienced a moment of sheering pain as the wicked little thing pulled on her hair with such force that she found herself flat on her back. The imp roceeded to jump on her stomach and dance upon it deciding that if p he was going to terrorize, he was going to go all out.

Lucy writhed and tried to throw the imp off of her stomach, but to no avail. It only got more enjoyment out of it, pulling her hair more, and stamping all about her, all the while cackling with glee. Although Lucy's hands were free, every time she attempted to lift so much as her little finger the imp would just slam down on her wrist to get her not to move, and continue stomping about on her. Lucy felt her stomach lurch as she dry-heaved, sure that if she had had anything in her stomach, she would have vomited.

"Stop it!" Edmund yelled, attempting to pull the imp from Lucy, only resulting in getting his finger bitten. He looked about the room, and seemed to just only realize that all of his companions were being held back. It was now only him standing, and there was no chances of him being able to fight, still trembling too much to hold anything, much less handle a sword.

He instead pleaded with the Witch, "Make them stop!"

The Witch spoke, ignoring Edmund's pleas, "We only need the one. Do what you wish to the others."

The little imp who had been terrorizing Lucy let an enormous, perverted grin take over his face as he rubbed his hands together gleefully. She attempted to swat it away, but the imp dodged and managed to yank a good clump of her hair out.

Desperately trying to stop trembling, Edmund said, "What do you want them for? There's other ways to take over—you don't need Susan."

The Witch stood, her intimidating height nearly making Edmund cower over; in fact, he really wished that he could cower over. Still, he wouldn't. He wouldn't let her get that satisfaction; he wouldn't allow her to know that she still had that power over him.

Fear, it was a funny thing. In the end, all fear comes down to, is power. Fear could compel a man to stop doing—or do, anything.

"And what might that be?" The Witch said, "You know that there are only two ways to begin the Winter, and I am not strong enough for the other, nor is our army. It was your idea to take this girl in the first place by raiding her town, and now you wish to go back on it? You cannot just change your mind when it suits your fancy."

Edmund wouldn't deny the fact that it was his idea to raid Lucy and Susan's town, but he didn't know them, and he went back on it. He had staked out their hometown before the raid, and even got chased off their porch with a broom by their father—but he didn't know them. He didn't know right from wrong. It wasn't his fault.

Susan watched the conversation. Being more concerned with her own and Lucy's condition, she was only half listening. However, when it was mentioned that the raid was Edmund's idea in the first place, she felt her initial suspicions of the boy flare up. So it _was_ him.

He was the one who was personally responsible for the death of her parents, and all those people. Instead of blaming him further, however, she found that she couldn't. Even though she wasn't too fond of the boy himself, when she saw his passion to save Lucy she found that a thin sheet of trust had found its way over their relationship, and she couldn't blame him. The facts said that he had had a pretty messed up life, but even though Susan wasn't entirely convinced that he really was changing himself, there was no doubt to say that he was trying.

The tiger remained in its crouching position, and Susan looked out of the corner of her eyes to Caspian, who was entirely still and listening carefully to the conversation between Edmund and the Witch. Susan turned her head back up to the front, just in enough time to hear the Witch say, "Be rid of them. Now."

Edmund was obviously at the end of his rope, and he couldn't think of anything else to do to save them. Hopefully they— and by they he meant Lucy—would understand why he said what he said. "Wait! I'll…I'll come back. I'll do what you want me to, I'll be your successor. I'll pillage Cair Paravel; I'll even murder King Frank. Just don't hurt her," he paused, thought on what he said, and added, "any of them."

XXXXXXXX

Just as Edmund spoke, the Witch pulled out a long piece of parchment paper from the air. It just materialized from nowhere. Right next to it, lay the quill from a despicable creature known as a harpy.

Edmund felt his heart skip a beat, he had never seen such a thing before, but he knew what it was, having heard of it before. A signature in blood on that paper meant that his soul would no longer be his. His soul would belong to the Witch. "A Faustian bargain?" his voice crackled as he spoke, "In exchange for what? Their safety?"

People would sometimes sign these to the Witch in exchange for a favor, youth, beauty, knowledge, power any number of things, but on the other end, it was always the same. A person's soul for whatever they wanted most.

"You cannot be trusted," the Witch said, "You went back on me after I went through with your own idea. You betrayed me, and all this time, I have asked so little of you."

Lucy tried to sit up, but every time she did, the imp would stomp over her and immobilize her. It really was starting to get on her nerves; the little imp would stomp and parade over her diaphragm and then jump over her chest, and even step over her chest. She wanted to sit up, stand even, and tell Edmund to run, tell all of them to run.

"This has gone on long enough," the Witch decided, and held out the parchment to Edmund, as if to say choose, boy, your freedom or their deaths. The entire room, including the imps, went still and silent.

"What does it entail? That all three of them—Lucy and Susan Pevensie, as well as Caspian of Telmar will remain absolutely unharmed? Neither dead, dying, nor suffering?"

"As the contract states, neither I," the Witch said, "nor my slaves, servants, nor minions will provoke death nor suffering over any of the three."

"And Susan? She won't be put under magical sleep?"

"The contract is binding exactly as it's written, and as you may read, she won't be put under the enchanted sleep."

Lucy watched as Edmund stepped towards the Witch and slowly grabbed the quill. She remembered how desperately he tried to expel all this from his life, how he trembled when they were first forced to enter. "Don't do it!" she yelled all that she could, before the imp jumped on her stomach again, silencing her.

Watching carefully, Lucy wished that Edmund could figure out a way to get around it—or just not sign at all. Anything for him not to sign something so evil—she didn't even know what it was, but she knew that it was wrong and evil. Seeing Edmund look so dejected was like taking a sucker punch to the stomach. It was absolutely plain for her to see that they was running out of options—she was naturally optimistic, not ignorant, and there was no bright side to this. It seemed as though this was the only thin left for them to do on their own.

Still, them and alone were exactly the key words. If only Aslan would come roaring in and save us, she thought, before letting out a squeaky whimper in realizing that Edmund had walked foreword, very slowly. The quill was in his hand.

"And you swear," he said, "that you'll let all of them go, even Susan, without spilling a drop more blood? Would you sign your own ichors," he attempted to get a full grasp of what was written in the contract, seeing was it was written in the ancient language of the dwarves, and Edmund only knew the languages of Narnians.

"How dare you be so bold? Your insolence disgusts me. However, the contract is binding exactly as it's written," The Witch repeated.

He put the disgusting quill to the parchment, "Alright," he breathed, "I'll sign it, but you have to come through with your end of the deal."

Lucy felt her pupils retract, she couldn't watch…but she had to. Susan watched in fear as well, no good could come from it, it was a given.

Edmund began to scrawl his name, red dripping blood shone in the dim light, the quill seemed to take his blood out of his very fingers. Slowly, very slowly, the E was finished.

No sooner had Edmund finished scripting the first 'd', than an arrow shot faster than light itself through the parchment, tearing it.

XXXXXXXXX

_It must have been Caspian who shot through the contact, seeing as Susan was still being held back when it happened. _

_But what's happening right now? That's what I'd like to know. _

_Everything's happening so quickly. Was it a moment ago that I was fighting the imp with my dagger, or is that happening right now? Did Susan shoot the tiger a second ago, or three minutes past? Or has that all happened already, and am I really being carried out of the chamber Edmund's arms right now, as everyone runs for the exit? _

_I hear a wolf howl. Maugrim! Maugrim and the rest of the wolves have been sent out to chase us! Oh, no! I don't think we can outrun wolves. _

_As the giant double doors open to the courtyard, we all begin running; we'd be practically home free if it weren't for the wolves at our heels. _

_The sun's so bright on the horizon it hurts my eyes, and the sky is full of purples and pinks. Have we really been in that horrible castle all night? _

_But we aren't truly out yet. If we get caught, we'll be back where we started, and something tells me, it's going to be far more painful than the first time._

**A/N: Oh wow…I don't like how this chapter turned out at all…I had one heck of a time trying to write for Jadis. I wasn't quite sure how to do it, because we all know that she's got a kind of track record for pretending to be nice before unleashing all hell. It was difficult, but I think I kind of like the mind game portion of it, but I'm still not sure if it was the best idea. ;\ Please tell me what you think! **

**Happy All Hallows to those of you who celebrate it!**


	28. Run! Continued

**A/N: This chapter may be on the short/rushed side, and I apologize for that, I wrote this longhand first, and we all know that it appears so much longer/paced when written in notebooks. **

_We're continuing on, running towards the large, glowing sunrise. It's so bright, after being kept in the darkness of the castle, it's almost blinding. _

_The wolves are falling behind, or so it seems. They're shrinking into the shadows of the dark trees; I see a large black one fall into a dark bush. Since it's early morning, the sun isn't very high in the sky, so shadows remain long and dark. Occasionally, I think I can see the flashing of a wolf's eye, but it turns out to just be the light playing a trick on my eyes. _

_Susan's having a rough time keeping up, as she keeps on slipping on the slush and tripping over roots. At least, she's managing to stay close behind Edmund and me, and stay on her feet. Right now, the worst possible thing that could happen would be for her to fall. But, she isn't going to. She's always had great balance and poise, I used to think the best in all of Narnia, and she isn't going to stumble or fall. _

_As Edmund runs as fast as he can, he accidentally kicks up some slush and it sprays the soles of my feet. I cringe as it begins to burn. _

_Despite the fact that none of us have heard a howl, bark, bay, or snarl in a long time, we all keep on running. Well, Susan, Edmund, and Caspian are running, I'm just trying desperately trying not to fall off of Edmund's back._

_I don't like being useless or defenseless, and right now, I'm both. I'll have to make it up to all of them somehow, in the future, when we get out of this situation. _

_It would be nearly impossible to run quietly in this setting—only Aslan himself would be able to. All the water puddles and slush makes loud noises whenever you step into them, and right now, we can't hear anything but our own panting, and the sloshing of our own feet in the mucky water. _

_It looks as if we've lost the wolves entirely, so we all stop behind an enormous tree to catch our breaths, and conduct something of a plan. We pant, all of us. Although I haven't been running, the adrenaline and scariness of the situation affects me just the same. _

_When we gather our breaths and stand in silence for a moment, before Caspian asks if we've lost them. _

_Edmund shifts me on his back and moves his hands to a more stable position on my thighs, since he was running when he picked me up last, I was slightly tottering as he ran. He then says that he seriously doubts that we've lost them, that it shouldn't be so easy as just running, that there has to be something else. _

"_So, what do you suppose we do, Edmund?" Susan and I actually ask together, it appears as though we were on the same page. You'd be surprised what a rarity that actually is. _

_He shrugs and suggests that we just keep on running. Well, I'm a bit surprised that he suggested it, if I'll be completely honest. He's the one who insists on carrying me on his back. It's got to be difficult to run like that. I ask him if he's sure that he wants to keep on carrying me. He says that he's positive, and I squeeze his shoulder. I don't know why, but that little thing he said, that he was sure that he was alright with carrying me farther, it was nice. _

_Susan speaks and breaks me out of my thoughts; she speaks as the voice of reason, as she always does. "Well, it's great that Edmund's willing to carry Lucy forever across mountains and rivers, and we might be able to outrun the wolves for a little while, but the fact remains that we can't run forever." _

_X_XXXXXXXX

The four stood silence, Susan's words echoing in their brains, the realization striking each one of them like lightning. They could run, but for how long?

Lucy had a look plastered across her face; a single look that showed fifteen years of fear built up behind her eyes. It looked like fog, glassing over her the deep blue that normally held at least a spark of hope and faith in them. Everything she had ever been afraid of in her life all came back to one thing: getting caught by the wolves and being taken back to the Witch. "You don't suppose we could just get away, and hide someplace, they can't chase us forever…can they?"

"I already tried that, remember?" Edmund said, his voice slightly bitter, not at Lucy, but at the concept of running forever, "I went all the way across the bloody country, they left me alone when I entered Cair Paravel, but they still found me when I retreated. So, unless we go to Ettinsmoor or Archenland or someplace and never leave—ever, there's nothing we can do other than just give up."

"I want a third option." Susan said, "I don't want to leave the country, or give up. I'm going to have two babies in a matter of days, and I'm not letting Peter think that I've died."

Lucy smiled at her sister, she hadn't seen what had happened to Susan with the dwarf, and therefore, hadn't seen her sister's complete change of heart on the babies. "Su, that's very noble of you."

"Thank you," Susan seemed rather upset with herself afterward, and added, "but I don't know how realistic I was being."

Additionally, Caspian interjected with his thought, "Yes, and I have someone I have to go back to as well."

Edmund shrugged, "Alright, then we can just screw our courage to the sticking place and see what happens when it's wolf against human. I've seen it before, and it's not attractive at all."

"What's gotten into you, Edmund?" Lucy asked, in the whole time she had known Edmund, she had never seen him this snappy or irritable. None of them were quite themselves, to be quite honest. They had all just begun to analyze what had just happened, all that they had just gone through.

Caspian had, for the most part, retreated into his mind. He had not been the victim of most of the horrible happenings, and yet, he saw most of them, and sometimes, being the witness to something, is far worse than being the one that it's actually happening to.

Lucy had simply become enveloped in her own fear, there really was no way to blame the girl for it, after all the torture she had been through, to say she felt weak and violated would have been an understatement.

Susan was becoming more protective and possessive for the moments as a result of what had happened to her with the dwarf. The fact that her mind might have very well been invaded, the fact that she had actually considered giving her babies to him for a moment and that _that _was the creation of her own mind, it was making her head spin. Whether or not she knew it, it was too much for her to handle.

Edmund was for the most part, dealing with the things that the hag had said while appearing as Lucy. He had always feared the idea of being unneeded or simply unwanted, and to hear it coming from Lucy's voice, it was enough to make his blood boil, aside from that, just everything that happened, it was making him off-kilter and rather moody.

Presently, the high, menacing sound of a wolf's howl sounded, from what seemed like a long way away, and it sent the four into a frenzied panic, as they continued to run as fast as their bruised legs could carry them.

They ran past trees, through the slush, faster and faster still, until they came to a break in the wood, where there was, what seemed to be a sort of cliff, and, at the bottom, there was a long path of whitewater that went out, but then looped back on itself like a noose before the hanging.

While the cliff was low, perhaps only seven feet above the water, it went on like that for ages, just a smooth and perfect ledge that made no sense at all.

Susan stared down at the whitewater, "Do any of you remember a river this way?"

Lucy craned her neck to see past Edmund's head, "No, but I think this is the way we came, isn't it?"

"It can't be," Susan shook her head; "there wasn't any cliff or river when we came."

Caspian looked around, as if trying to find a bridge, "We need to find a way across. Maybe then we can lose the wolves."

As if on cue, the noise of wolves barking sounded, and when they looked behind their shoulders, they could even begin to see the outline of Maugrim racing towards them. Edmund shook his head, "No time."

Standing there for a brief second, Susan waited and then said, "Well, then what do you propose we do?"

Edmund bit his lip, and looked down into the river, "Are you a good swimmer?"

Susan merely stared at the boy in disbelief. He was asking if she could swim through whitewater rapids and probably drown, to escape certain death through wolves? For one thing, she was pregnant, and it would be a great deal more difficult to break through to the surface than it would be anyway in whitewater. Yes, normally she was a fantastic swimmer but not then, not through rapids.

When she voiced these concerns, however, all she got was a distracted, "Uh-huh, that's nice. No time, just hold your breath," before she felt three strong hands push her past the precipice and the next thing she knew, she was plummeting into deep water.

Back on the cliff, Lucy squeaked in seeing Susan pushed off the precipice, and began to ask what on earth they did that for, but was never able to finish her question, as the wolves had finally caught up to them.

Maugrim let out a low snicker that sounded much like a growl; he crouched low, ready to pounce at any given moment. It was sad really, how easy this all was. He had hoped, by giving them a chance to get ahead or hide, that it might have been more of a chase, but he was wrong. Sometimes chase games bored the wolf, but not this time, in fact, he wanted a little more action, a story to report back to his queen. "Just keep still," he said in his low, gravelly voice, "it will only hurt for a moment."

Caspian immediately jumped forward into the water after Susan, who somehow had managed to surface and was currently clutching to a rock to prevent her from going further downstream.

Edmund turned his head towards Lucy, "Trust me?"

Nodding briefly, Lucy said, "Yeah."

Just the moment that Edmund jumped with Lucy on his back, Maugrim pounced, his teeth ripping the hem of Lucy's skirt, and sending the wolf down through the air as well.

The moment Lucy found herself underwater; she found a stunning realization. The water, which should have been cold from both nightfall and winter only just ending, was nice and warm and pleasantly so, like a bath in springtime. She noticed her feet, which was another surprising thing. Where they should have been unpleasantly burning and irritated from the water, they weren't. On the contrary, they felt absolutely relieved, it was hard to explain but it felt almost as if a thin layer of skin was coming back to the soles, as if the wound was several days, or weeks even, old.

She surfaced, only to see the large gray form of Maugrim thrashing and writhing in the water, hissing and spitting, as if the same water that had been so comforting to Lucy, was made of acid. So quickly, the wolf seemed to disintegrate in the water itself, the fur, the skin, and then the bones, until there was nothing left of the wolf.

The rest of the wolves seemed to notice their leader's demise, as they retreated into the forest with their tails between their legs.

Lucy found the current quick, but not unfriendly. It was almost comforting, as if she knew that the water—although very unsettled looking, wouldn't hurt her.

Eventually, she found herself flowing downstream, towards the rock where Susan, Caspian, and Edmund had all gathered.

Susan stared gape-mouthed towards where Maugrim had been, "Did you all see that?"

Caspian spat some of the water out of his mouth and nodded, "It wasn't exactly something I've expected to see." Still clutching to the rock with one hand, Caspian used one first to bring his sopping wet hair away from his eyes, "Anyway, are you all okay?"

While Susan and Lucy nodded, Edmund blinked several times, and said, "Really? Lucy, I thought that your feet must be killing you in this water." He continued blinking, as if trying to get something irritating out of his eyes.

All Lucy could say, moving a bit of hair out of her own eyes was, "What do you mean?"

When she did this, Susan noticed a little tiny detail that wasn't the same as she was used to, and couldn't help but blurt, "Your wrist! It's…it's…straight! Lucy, your wrist is straight!"

Lucy looked at her left wrist, and to her own amazement, Susan was telling the truth. It had always stood out in the wrong direction, and she could never move it in the same way everyone else could, but nevertheless, her wrist was now straight. She could barely speak; it was nothing short of astonishing.

"Did you hit it on the way down?" Susan asked, figuring that perhaps, if Lucy's hand hit a rock it might have snapped the bone back into place.

"No, it hasn't. The only thing my wrist hit was the water…do you think that maybe, the water had something to do with it?"

Wrinkling his eyebrow, Edmund said, "Okay, seriously, this water isn't bothering any of you guys at all? My cuts are on _fire_, and my eyes aren't far behind."

Lucy was about to say something, but got distracted by something downstream, her lips parted into an enormous smile, and she began swimming as fast as she could to the end of the river. For, on land, Lucy saw what was, to her and many others, the most beautiful sight ever. She saw, against the golden sunrise, a gold far purer, far more shining than anything else. What she saw was the golden Lion she had waited all her life to see. And so, she cried out, "Aslan!"

XXXXXXXXX

_It's Aslan! I see him! I see him! _

_I was wrong all my life in thinking that when the light catches his mane it would look like the sun through stain glass, it's far richer than that. Like something I've never seen! The goldenness of it all! It's so incredible! _

_I can't swim fast enough to get to him. It's amazing; I am so close—and yet so far, from the creator and protector of all of Narnia! _

_I can't believe it…no, yes, I can. It's so real, so vivid. _

_So right. _

_I can see Aslan with my own eyes, and nothing that I've ever seen before measures to him in beauty or majesty._

_I couldn't even imagine exactly what he looks like before. _

_And now I see him. I wonder, in all my excitement, am I breathing? _


	29. Aslan

_I continue to swim with the quick current towards the shore, to get a better look at Aslan. It's all that's on my mind. Swim faster, faster. I need to get to see Aslan. I need to. I just do._

_I make my way past the water and onto the shore. The next thing I know, I'm on my feet, walking towards the great Lion. _

_His fur is so much more golden up close! I look and see Aslan's huge and terrible paws—if he didn't know how to velvet them he could possibly rip open the entire earth. A strange thought. While he's amazing and wonderful, he's also got so much power behind him; it's almost scary. _

_His face is wide and beautiful. This is the very Lion what sang Narnia into existence. All I can think is, whoa._

_I wrap my arms around his neck and bury my face in his incredible mane. It's coarse and, yet, the finest thing I could ever feel. Not the most expensive cloths in the world would be able to feel the same way as Aslan's mane does. The light catches it, and all the golden hair and fur absorbs the light and radiates it through the air around it. It sounds as if Aslan is smiling, and I can feel on of his enormous paws on my back._

_I would think that I'd have to keep on reminding myself that this is real. Every time I would have thought about it before, I was certain that I'd have to keep on reminding myself that it was real and I wasn't dreaming, but I don't have to. However amazing and unbelievable this is, for some reason, I don't even have to question it, I know that it's real. _

_I look into Aslan's amber eyes and there's no way to explain it, but it's as if they're entering my soul and discovering everything about me. But it doesn't matter; I don't have anything to hide. _

_I stand in silence for a moment; after all, I haven't anything to say. I stay still and wait for Aslan to speak. _

_"For you, dear one," he says, "this adventure is nearly over." _

_I take in every word. His voice is so deep and rich; it's full of knowledge and power, and everything. _

_He said that this journey is nearly over for me._

_My adventure, which I've been having my entire life—seeing as it truly began when I was six, is almost over. Almost everything I've gone through in my life has led up to this, and now, it's done. Well, it's nearly done, I should say. Aslan said that it was nearly over, of course there has to be something else. _

_What Aslan tells me is that all I really need to do is help the others reach the end of their journeys. The old part of my life is more or less gone, and I wonder what's next, if anything. _

_There has to be something coming next, I mean, this is my life, it might get awfully quiet after today compared to the last nine months, but there has to be something else. _

_Oh well, Lucy, that doesn't matter. What I need to do is help the others reach the ends of their journeys; I wonder exactly how I can do that? _

_Aslan speaks again and I'm immediately lifted from my thoughts. After all, I have to listen and listen carefully. I don't want to miss anything the Lion has to say. _

XXXXXXXXX

When Caspian saw Lucy embrace the Lion, he turned to help Susan out of the water and whispered, "Is she allowed to do that?" From what he had been told in legends about the Narnians and Aslan, was that the Lion was respected and feared, he hardly thought that they would be allowed to touch him.

"I suppose _she_ is," Susan murmured, but then flickered her eyes over to the Lion to hear what he was saying to Lucy.

Of course, Caspian thought, I should be doing the same thing. Even though Aslan was speaking to Lucy, it wouldn't be eavesdropping if he listened as well. After all, if Aslan wished to speak privately with Lucy, he would pull her aside, wouldn't he?

"Aslan," Lucy said, a thought just seeming to occur to her, "how is it that I can walk now? My feet were completely raw, and now, they don't hurt at all. The water, it healed my wrist, too. Why is that?"

"The water in the river is not that of a normal kind, dear one. It is made of a liquid similar to that of the juice of the Fire Flower, a juice that will cure any injury. Instead, this water will cure any injury or fatal illness only of those who have goodness and my ways in their heart. However, to those who have evil in their heart, the water shall act as an acid does, and they will die."

"But, what about Edmund?" Lucy asked. "The water, it irritated his eyes and hurt his cuts." She looked back to see Edmund, who was still standing in the water that irritated him so much. To say he looked scared would be a bit of an understatement. He was terrified, but not in the same way that he had been previously. Previously he was afraid for his own, the others, and Lucy's life. Now, the look that plagued his face was a look of fearing the unknown, his entire philosophy had been crushed and now he had no idea about what would happen.

Lucy looked at her feet, to think. "I know that Edmund isn't evil. I know that for a fact, and he has goodness in his heart. But," she continued speaking, looking back to Aslan, "he's never quite thought much of—or about, you. Is that why the water hurt him, Aslan?"

The Lion curled back his lips in a sort of smile, "Dear one, what is in Edmund's head and heart are his matters and his alone. However good your reasons for wishing to know are, it is still not for you to know exactly why the water chastised him."

When the Lion finished speaking, he turned towards where Susan and Caspian were standing. "Susan, daughter of Eve," he said, "come forward."

Slowly waddling towards the Great Lion, Susan bowed as low as she could manage without falling over, her hair still dripping large amounts of water onto the ground. "Yes, Aslan?" she asked, not entirely sure how she was supposed to act, exactly. Her sister had always had irrevocable faith in Aslan, and she was absolutely comfortable around the Lion, but Susan wasn't so sure. Yes, she too was awed by the Lion's presence, and yes, she too found it wonderful to be in front of him, but her vanity was beginning to flare and she was afraid of doing the wrong thing and appearing a fool.

"Do not care, daughter of Eve," Aslan said, as if reading Susan's mind, "if you will look a fool in front of me, however you wish to greet me in respect is the correct way. Vanity becomes no one, in fact, sometimes it may lead to a person's end."

"Yes," Susan said, embarrassed by her behavior, "I will try and remember that."

Aslan nodded, light absorbing into his mane, and went on to address Susan, "Like your sister, this journey is, too, nearing its end for you. Your injuries are all healed, but something else in your health is still awry. It is not fatal, but you will have greater pains in labor because of them."

Susan couldn't help but wonder why her wounds weren't entirely healed. She thought that wounds would be healed if someone had goodness and Aslan's ways in their heart? The only logical explanation would perhaps be that she wasn't quite as good as she could be. After all, she had considered some bad things about her children-to-be, and there was a chance that she had been possessed because her faith in Aslan was flawed. That seemed to be what she thought. Then, her thought drifted to the pain of labor. "How much more will it hurt exactly, Aslan?" she asked.

"It cannot be said exactly. Perhaps you will only feel an extra pinch of pain, but it could also be nearly fatal if you do not give birth in a stable environment."

When the Lion said this, Susan felt a tinge of fear. She attempted to calm herself down, it was only an if that the pain would hurt so much more, and well, she could just do everything in her power to give birth in a stable environment. Still, it was not at all a pleasant thought.

When the Lion was finished speaking to Susan, he turned to Caspian, "Caspian X of Telmar, son of Adam," said he, "step forward."

Caspian did so and stooped to his knees, his face tucked away over one of them. He had less of an idea of how to act than Susan did, though his only reason was simply because he had only ever heard of Aslan in legends that his tutor and nanny used to tell him.

"Unlike the others, your journey is that of a different sort, and it's far from its end. In fact, it has only begun. When you are done here, after you say goodbye, head back the way you came, and take all that you have learned from your experience with the other three. If you do so, there is a great chance, that you will be great. Now, stand," the Lion ordered. When the three were standing in a line, he breathed over them, and in a quick breath, they were dry.

After that was done, Aslan turned his head past them, to Edmund, whose ankles were throbbing from the pain the water was still inflicting on him. Aslan said, "Come, Edmund, son of Adam, I must talk with you alone."

Edmund looked afraid that if he went with him, the Lion would gobble him up in seconds. He wasn't sure exactly whether to go or not.

A small whisper from one of the other three, no one knows for sure who it was, said, "Go on," and with that little bit of encouragement helped Edmund take the steps to leave the water and follow the Lion.

XXXXXXXXXX

It had been awhile since Edmund was taken to the top of a hill to speak with Aslan, and although Lucy had unchangeable faith in the Lion, she was beginning to get fidgety. Susan noticed first, as she was talking with Caspian about what the water had felt like to them. They both found that the water was comfortable, though not heavenly, and yes, the current was scary at first, but then they found it gentle and friendly.

"Yes," Susan said, "but did you feel any of your cuts being healed?" She hoped to find that it wasn't only her imagining things. Her eyes flickered towards Lucy, who was franticly pacing back and forth.

The pacing fifteen-year-old momentarily distracted Caspian but he continued speaking with Susan, "Yeah, I felt that too. It felt like skin was growing over the cuts, didn't it?"

"Exactly," Susan said, she was about to say something else, but Lucy's constant walking back and forth and looking up on the hill to see if Aslan and Edmund had finished yet, was beginning to get on her nerves. "Lu! Stop it; I'd think that you'd be the one who would be the most comfortable with this, with all your faith in Aslan and all."

"It's not that," Lucy said as she sat down and began to bite her fingernails, "I'm not worried about what Aslan's saying, I'm worried about Edmund's reactions."

"I don't understand," Caspian cocked his head to the side.

"Once Edmund told me that it wasn't that he didn't believe in Aslan or anything else, but that he didn't think that they care about him, or that they even mattered. I don't know how easily his opinion can change…I'm scared for him."

For the first time, Susan began to believe what her sister had told her in Beaversdam, slowly she said, "That's thinking that's bound to catch his attention." She had said this once before, but she was going in a completely different direction than last time, that was before she had realize that Edmund wasn't so bad, and before she realized exactly how deep Lucy's feelings went.

Both Lucy and Caspian didn't get it, they lifted a brow and asked in their own ways, "Huh?"

Susan looked her sister in the eye, "Lucy, you really are in love with him, aren't you?"

Lucy nodded and smiled, "Yes," after she spoke she looked up again, and gasped, "They're done."

Caspian helped Susan to her feet, and the three of them stood, waiting for the Lion and Edmund to approach them. "What's done, is done," Aslan said when they finally reached the three, "there is no need to speak to Edmund about what is past."

Susan, Caspian, and Lucy all took a moment to look at Edmund, who cautiously murmured, "Hullo." When they took their eyes off of Edmund, Aslan was gone.

"Where'd he go?" Caspian asked, looking around for the great Lion.

"Well, he isn't a tame Lion," Lucy told him, leaving a smile on her face for a moment, reflecting on this, before she turned to Edmund, "You all right?"

Shrugging, Edmund said, "Yeah, I suppose."

"Good," Lucy smiled, and then found herself rushing towards him and embracing him with such force that he had to pivot on one of his heels spinning both of them in a sort of half-circle.

Susan walked over to Edmund and put a hand on his shoulder. He looked at the girl surprised; he had always thought that Susan didn't like him very much. It was a bit of an unusual surprise.

The sun was high in the sky, and it was nearly noon when they decided to leave. Caspian decided to go back the way he came; doing what Aslan had told him to, but not before saying goodbye to his friends.

"Are you sure you want to go back now?" Lucy asked. "It's past noon, and you haven't eaten in a long time. You can stop by Tumnus's, I'm sure we could get you something to eat by then."

Shrugging Caspian all said was, "I need to get back."

Lucy nodded and said, "Good luck," she paused. "I hope that you'll find what you want, and if you're ever back in the west, look us up."

She waved and smiled as Susan stepped forward to say goodbye.

"Well then," Susan said awkwardly, it was strange talking to him, she hadn't been the nicest to him before and she was having a difficult time figuring out how to say what she needed to, "Thank you…you know, for saving my life and all…from the dwarf, and everything. So…thank you." She then craned her head, and gave Caspian a quick kiss on the cheek, as her way of thanking him for saving her life.

There was a quiet moment; no one quite knew what to say after that. Caspian said goodbye to both the girls and then turned towards Edmund to say goodbye to him.

"Don't expect me to kiss you, too!" Edmund stuck his hands out in front of him, using his hands as a block from him from Caspian.

Just then, all four erupted into laughter for the first time in what seemed like forever.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Susan, Edmund, and Lucy were all walking through the muck and slush of the Western Wood on the way back to Tumnus's house. This walk was significantly more pleasant than the last few times they were walking through the large clusters of the conifer trees.

They walked through the forest quickly for the most part, listening to wordless birdsong and avoiding slush puddles. Occasionally one of them would speak, only to point out some sort of nice thing that they saw, but it was otherwise quiet. None of them quite knew what to speak of; they didn't want to bring up anything that had happened, so for the most part, the only things that were spoken were light fluff sort of things.

Susan was forced to waddle slower than the other two, and couldn't help but notice that at some point, Edmund and Lucy had begun to hold hands. It wasn't the first time she saw the younger two hold hands, but it was the first time after she knew that what they felt was more than simple infatuation. She couldn't help but smile at them.

Slowly, the lamppost appeared out of the trees in a haze, still awhile away. Lucy was happily reflecting on all the good things that happened in the past hour. The bad, while they were absolutely horrible, weren't present in her mind at the moment, all she could think about was seeing Aslan, and now knowing that Edmund accepted the Lion. That's all that mattered to her.

Perhaps she wouldn't have been so, momentarily, happy if she saw her sister just then. Susan felt an explosion of pain in her lower stomach, and the insides of her legs were suddenly drenched with a warm liquid. Her adrenaline had been rushing so much recently that she hadn't noticed the warnings. "Lucy!" she screamed, "I think my water just broke!"

XXXXXXXX

_What? Her water just broke? Oh no, this is hardly a stable environment for Susan to give birth in! And we aren't near enough to Tumnus's._

_Wait! I think we might be close to Polly Plummer's house. Regardless, we need to get Susan into a building, away from the cold and muck in time to have the babies!_

_All I know is that her water broke, and the babies are coming, and coming quick!_


	30. They Arrive

**A/N: I really wasn't sure about how I wanted this chapter to go when I sat down to write it. So, I just started writing, and this is what happened: **

_When we get to Polly's house, we anxiously rap on the door and let ourselves in. Polly's so old, she doesn't really move quickly enough. We don't mean any harm, but I can't help but feel a little guilty about breaking and entering._

_Polly's just in the next room, however, just slowly coming out into the entrance area. We tell her what we need, and thankfully, she's willing to let us use the bedroom right next to the sitting area. Thank goodness!_

_We rush Susan into the closest bedroom and onto the bed. She grips the bedpost so tightly that her knuckles turn white and grits her teeth, as she gets ready for the birth._

"_Polly," I shout out, "get us some clean cloths and boiling water, will you?" I hate to ask too much from her, letting us use her house and all, but I'd hate to leave Susan while she's in so much pain just to get the things I need. _

_She nods and hobbles out of the room, and I call out to the sitting area, "Edmund? Hurry and get Peter and Tumnus!" I pause and consider asking him to get the physician, but Aslan only said that it would be fatal if we didn't get Susan to a stable environment, which we did. I know how to help Susan give birth, I've read about it, and I think I can do it. _

_I know I can do it. _

_I have to do it. _

_Susan's sweating and continues to grit her teeth. I remind her to breathe. She just snaps at me to come on and do something helpful, like my job! _

_Polly reenters with the water and cloths, and tells us that if there's anything else to help with, she's right outside. _

_Susan isn't dilated enough yet, so I can't do anything really except put a cloth on her forehead and let her crush my fingers in her sweaty hands. _

_Even though she isn't dilated enough to force a baby out, she is far enough for me to tell that she's actually been going through labor for quite a while, and she's now nearly at the peak of her first labor. _

_She should've been lying down a long time ago. Oh, well, nothing to help that now. I just need to do my job as a midwife and help her get the babies out. _

_She keeps on telling me that she wants to just push, but I have to tell her not yet. She needs to keep on breathing. _

"_Lucy! I need to push, I need to get it out!" She's not screaming, but there's enough force in her voice to let me know how much pain she's in. _

_I hate to see her like this. _

_She wasn't in so much pain even earlier today, when all the horrible things were happening. Now she is. She just needs to stay strong, come on Susan; it's almost over. _

_It has to be. _

_I say, "Just keep on breathing, Su. It'll be over before you know it." _

XXXXXXXX

Susan couldn't remember having a contraction that hurt her so much as that one did. She felt as if it was going to dislocate her spine and limbs. And yet, Lucy told her to just breathe and not to push yet.

Well, Lucy was supposed to be the midwife and know what she was doing, but _seriously_? She felt as if the babies were coming out anyway, why did she need to prolong the agony?

"Just breathe, Su. Just breathe," Lucy told her, pressing a cloth to her forehead to mop up the sweat, "Inhale, exhale, inhale…"

"I know how to breathe!" Susan snapped, before muttering a quick apology to her sister and resuming the synchronized breaths.

In a split second, there was a knock on the door. Peter's voice sounded on the other side, "Susan? Can I come in?"

Where Lucy nearly opened her mouth to tell him to come in, Susan spoke first, trying to keep her breathing in rhythm, "No! Just wait outside! Please!" She lowered her voice, "I don't want Peter to see me giving birth!" It wasn't very proper for the man to be in a room with a woman giving birth, but putting that aside, she simply didn't want Peter to see her like that and pose as a distraction while she was trying to concentrate on breathing.

Wiping off Susan's forehead again, Lucy said, "I'm sure he doesn't care…"

"Oh, be quiet."

For a while all Susan could think of was the exploding feeling of pain in her stomach, then she reminded herself to think of the breathing. After all, if she focused on something else, perhaps the pain wouldn't be so heavy. Breathe in, one, two, three. Breathe out, one, two, three. Repeat it again. She couldn't help but moan in the feeling; it was as if someone was squishing her stomach in his hands as if it were putty. Breathe. In for one, two, three. Out for one, two, three.

After a few minutes of breathing, Lucy finally told her, "Alright, here it comes! Ready? Inhale…and push!"

Cringing, Susan pushed as hard as she could. Come on, come on, and get out of me, she thought, attempting to push a baby out of her, even if only one got out at the moment, it was better than this.

"Okay," Lucy instructed, "that's good for now. Breathe in again. One, two three…"

Susan collapsed her head on the pillow panting; this was going to be harder than she thought.

Meanwhile, Peter sat on the couch, "What do you suppose is taking them so long?" he asked, taping his fingers on his knee and looking all around the room.

"You didn't want me to answer that, did you?" Edmund asked from the chair he was sitting in.

He shot a look at the boy, and resumed ranting, "Why won't she let me in? Do you think something's going wrong? Well…if something were going wrong, they'd let me in, wouldn't they?"

"I don't know," Edmund shrugged, "do you think Susan would let you in if she were having a really hard time?" He knew that Susan would be having a very hard time giving birth, but he didn't want to worry Peter more than he already was.

Peter ran his hands through his hair, "She probably wouldn't." It was insane, waiting like that. He had no clue what was happening, he wanted to know. Susan was just in the room right next to where he was being forced to sit in, giving birth to his sons or daughters. Darn it, he wanted to be in there.

Well, just because he wanted to stand next to Susan and hold her hand as she gave birth to their twins didn't mean that he was going to be able to. Whatever her reasons were, she didn't want him in the room with her, and he just had to accept it and be reduced to sitting in a couch that smelled vaguely like the elderly, and twiddling his thumbs.

It wasn't exactly something he was used to. Peter was a man of action. He would think often, but for the most part, he would show whatever he was thinking through what he said and did. Needless to say, being forced to sit on his bum, completely unable to do anything, was driving him up a wall.

He knew that he couldn't help anything by sitting and just waiting for Susan to finish up. How long did it take to have a baby anyway? His own stomach was beginning to hurt as well, as he heard unpleasant groans from the other room; he knew that the sympathy pains were nothing like what Susan was experiencing, and all he wanted was to be in the darn room with her.

"You should relax," Tumnus said, entering the room from the kitchen, where he had previously been, helping Polly make tea. "It might take awhile. When Helen had Susan, she was in labor for two days."

Two days? Women could be in labor with one child for two days? That was insane. This would be a long wait; he just couldn't shake the feeling.

XXXXXXXXX

"Alright, Su, I see its head!" Lucy exclaimed at long last, "If you give one great big push, you should be able to get it out!"

It was about time that Susan heard this. Gritting her teeth, all the circulation in her hands had gone away with the intenseness she was gripping the headboard of the bed with. With all the force she had left in her sore stomach muscles, she pushed. She just kept pushing, harder and harder still, until she heard what sounded to her like a miracle; a high pitched cry.

She stopped pushing immediately. Panting so hard that she quaked, she looked over her legs to see Lucy wiping off a sobbing, damp, little pink thing that looked like one of the most beautiful things Susan had ever seen.

"It's a girl," Lucy said, holding up the baby so Susan could see.

Feeling like she was going to cry, Susan reached out and touched her little daughter's hand, when she did the tiny thing's cries turned more into whimpers, as her mother lightly caressed the little hand.

Susan couldn't help but divide her face into an enormous smile as she began to experience, for the first time in her life, a mother's pride and love. "Hello, Grace," she said softly to her daughter, "it's nice to finally meet you." With that, her did burst into tears. How could she have thought of little Grace, her little Grace, as a parasite of all things? It was horrible.

Clearing her tears, Susan addressed her sister, "Lu, make sure that Grace's clean and warm, and then take her out to Peter, alright? I feel like another contraction's coming along."

Lucy nodded and reminded her to keep breathing, wiping the newborn off again with a damp cloth and wrapping her up in a nice, soft blanket. When she left the bedroom, Peter was immediately on his feet, speaking before the door even fully opened, "Is Susan alright?"

"Yeah, she's fine," Lucy said, "She's just getting ready for the next baby, breathing and things. You should be able to see her very soon. In the meantime, would you like to meet your daughter?"

Peter looked over into the bundle in Lucy's arms. The new, round face was pink and blotchy, but still was quite the sight to behold. He found his breathing get louder, as he just stared at his daughter. She had a thin layer of blonde hair on her little head, as she slept. Peter didn't know that anything could be so tiny, or so beautiful.

"You should hold her," Lucy said, offering the baby to the father, catching the reluctant look on Peter's face, she said softly, "She's a baby, Peter, she's not going to break."

Nodding, Peter took his daughter into his arms, and the effect was entirely different. His daughter—Grace, was still tiny, but looked extremely more so in his arms. She looked and seemed so delicate too. He really did feel as if she was going to break just then and there, but he wouldn't let that happen.

This was the little girl that he had been waiting so long for. It was then and there that the realization hit him; he was, as of that minute, a father. He promised to himself that he would never let anything ever happen to his daughter. He'd never let anything hurt her, not a bad dream, a scraped knee, or a broken heart when she grew up.

He then continued to look down at her, and gently kiss the top of her soft head. This was his daughter, his Gracie.

XXXXXXXX

Susan lied in the newly changed sheets, holding her son in her arms. It had been horribly painful to get him out, but that didn't matter anymore. She just stared at her son; he was absolutely perfect.

He had a whole mess of black hair on his head, but even with that, Susan could tell that her son looked like his father. He was smaller than his sister was, but the little boy was, thankfully, in great health.

"Noah," she said, in a small voice to her newborn son, "You look like your father, you know, besides your hair. He's going to be wonderful to you and your sister, wait until you meet him. You might need to have more patience with me, though. I don't know how well I'm going to do, but I'm going to try."

"You're going to do wonderfully," Peter said, standing in the doorway with Grace in a bundle in his arms. He walked over to the bed, and kissed Susan softly, "How're you doing?"

"Tired," Susan admitted, "But I'm alright, we all are."

Peter kissed her again and took his seat on the bed next to her, "Do you want to hold Gracie? I'll take Noah."

Susan nodded and waited until the twins were carefully passed between parents to say, "Gracie, then? You're already giving her nicknames?"

Peter smiled at his fiancé, before looking down at his son, then to his daughter. His life was changed, that was sure, he was now a father, and only a while back he was thinking that he was too young to be a parent. He probably was, but it didn't matter, because he was already a parent.

This was his new life, and well, to be frank, he was on the top of the world.

XXXXXXX

When night falls we set up sleeping arrangements, and decide to leave tomorrow morning. Peter and Susan are obviously sleeping in the bedroom with the twins. Polly's upstairs and Tumnus decided to go home, he said he's going to set up the cradles for Grace and Noah when they come back home.

_I've put a comforter on the couch and lay down there to sleep for the night. Everything's got a nice bluish tint to it from the darkness; it's not at all unfriendly this time. I can't help but remember a little bit of what's happened. _

_You know, when I look back on today, what I'm going to remember is seeing Aslan and speaking with him. I'm also going to remember helping Susan go through labor, and getting to see my niece and nephew for the first time. But that's all. Everything else, while I'll still have it in my memory, is going to be put away somewhere where I'll try not to look in on too much. _

_It's been a rather full day, and right now I just want to sleep for a week. _

"_Lucy, are you awake?" I hear from the floor, where Edmund is supposed to be sleeping. _

_I nod, and turn over to face him; he looks troubled, "What's the matter?" _

_He seems to go into deep thought again, I don't mind watching him think. A moment passes before he speaks again, "You know, when I first saw Aslan today, I was really scared. But then, when he talked to me, it's weird, but for the first time ever, I actually feel like I'm a completely new person, like I'm not at all attached to my old life." _

_I can't help but smile. "You aren't anymore. That's the beauty of it," I say, speaking my mind. I turn over more, so as to get a better look at him, "You're who you want to become now, I suppose. So, Edmund, who do you want to be?" _

_He smiles, but has no answer for my question. "Do you…" he pauses, and seems to think about what to say, "do you remember what I tell you?" _

_What? What does he mean by that? Do I remember what he tells me? "Every word." _

_He smiles and sits up straight. We're close again, just like we have been before. We're getting closer again, and his face is so close that I can see his eyes tremble ever so slightly. _

_Crash! Suddenly, once again, we're jolted apart. Polly's come down the stairs and accidentally knocked over a few pictures on a table. _

_She tells us not to mind her, that she's just gone to get a glass of water. _

_Edmund and I look at each other again, before I lay flat on the couch again, and he's on the ground. "Gracie and Noah are adorable, aren't they?" I say after a moment. _

_It feels weird to be reduced to small talk after all that we've been though. _

**A/N: Well, originally this chapter wasn't going to end like this, but, hey, it did. Oh well, I kinda like it. My friend asked me a question while she was helping me edit (thanks for that, by the way) and here's the answer in case anyone has the same question; Yes, Noah is going to grow up to be a mommy's boy.**


	31. The Wedding

_It seems like spring as just come randomly, right after Grace and Noah. The slush is gone, revealing only a carpet of green grass covering the ground, even in the thicker parts of the forest. The sun is almost always out, in the blue sky. When clouds are out, they're always small and puffy, no sign of bad weather all spring._

_Susan and Peter are getting used to being parents, they never get a very decent night's sleep since, apparently, Noah always gets hungry in the night, and when he wakes up crying, Grace will wake up and won't stop with her crying until both her brother stops and one of her parents pays her some attention, too. _

_The four of them are nearly always together. The twins spend most of their time sleeping, and when they aren't sleeping, they're crying because they're hungry, gassy, or tired. Susan and Peter definitely have their hands full, even with the rest of us here to help them. _

_Even now, only a few weeks after their birth, Noah and Grace have a sort of connection, and they need to be together all of the time. If they're separated for a few minutes and they're aware of it, they'll throw a fit. _

_A few days ago, I was babysitting them to give their parents some time to sleep. Susan gave me about a million instructions telling me how to hold them, when to feed them, how to sterilize the bottles, and if I have any problems, that she's just upstairs. _

_They slept for almost an hour, and I was starting to doze off myself, when Grace began fussing in her cradle, and Noah followed suit either out of sympathy for his sister, or because he felt upset as well. _

_I tried everything Susan gave me instructions for, I tried feeding them, changing their diapers, and I went through the entire checklist and nothing worked. I kept on having to juggle the babies, placing one back in his or her crib while I attempted to take care of the other. Eventually, I put Grace on the bed and tried rocking Noah, but that didn't work either. I put him on the bed to try checking Grace's diaper again, but when they were both on the bed again, they just stopped crying and stared at each other before falling asleep—they just knew that the other one was next to them. _

_It's adorable how two people, only a few weeks old, already have a connection. _

_I'm babysitting again right now, considering both Susan and Peter need their rest tonight, and then again tomorrow night. _

_At least I'm not babysitting alone. Ed and Tumnus are babysitting, too. We're keeping the cradles downstairs in the sitting area. Every few hours, we trade off times to watch the babies. It's my turn right now, in about an hour, after Noah and Grace's feeding time, I'll go up the stairs and wake up Edmund for his turn, and so it will go tonight and tomorrow. _

_Susan keeps on waking up to check on the twins. She says that she heard them fussing through the floor and wants to make sure they're alright. _

_I shoo her upstairs and make Peter promise not to let her downstairs for the rest of the night. After all, she can't be tired tomorrow. That wouldn't be good. _

_Tomorrow wouldn't be a good day at all for Susan to be tired. _

XXXXXXXXXX

Susan stood in front of a long mirror, staring at her reflection. She finally felt as if she was getting her body back. Although, she had to admit, it was odd to be able to see her toes from a standing position.

She finished pinning her hair into a knotted bun that circled around several times to keep it back. She then took a step backward to look at the final product. She smiled, everything looked as she felt it should on her wedding day.

She ran her hands over the design of the material over her, now smaller, stomach. She hadn't lost all the weight she had gained during pregnancy, but she was a great deal smaller. It wasn't so bad having a little bit of a stomach, especially after feeling completely taken over by it only a few weeks ago.

She ruffled the skirt of her wedding gown and examined it. It was the same gown that her mother wore on her wedding day, it had been stored in the attic of Tumnus's house from a short period of time that Helen and Wilhelm had lived with Tumnus's father after their marriage about a year before Susan herself had come around.

The gown was a light crystal blue color with a silvery texture and an elaborate embroidered pattern in shimmering gold all over it. It truly tied in the back, but for the effect, there were golden buttons going down her chest in a line. The neck scooped down under the collarbone in a darker blue with a pattern embroidered over it. The sleeves were, possibly, her favorite part, as they were loose and flowing.

It had been awhile since Susan had gotten excited over a dress, and it wasn't even really the dress so much as what it was for.

A little gurgle sounded from Noah in his cradle in the back of the room next to the bed. Susan walked over and crouched over the two cradles right next to each other, to hold her young son's hand. Grace was sleeping soundly in the cradle right next to her brother. Susan quietly and gently kissed the heads of bother her children. She loved them so much; it didn't matter how many times a night they woke her to be fed, changed, or simply to be held. She was their mother, and that was all that needed to be said to say how much she loved them.

Her mind drifted to what was happening that day, and she felt her pulse race a little in her chest. She was marrying Peter in less than a few hours. Just thinking about it made her shake from excitement.

It would be a rather small affair; a ceremony performed by a local centaur who had the legal licenses to marry people with two guests or so, and a small supper afterwards. But it didn't matter how big it was, the fact was that she was getting married.

Lucy slipped through the door, looking rather nice and neat herself. The sisters looked at each other, before embracing each other tightly. Without quite knowing it, Susan began to cry. Tears of happiness and excitement stained her cheeks.

Susan was ready to be married, she wasn't even able to think for a fleeting moment that she and Peter would miss out on a big chunk of what most married people have from being thrust into parenthood at least a few weeks before marriage. They'd miss out on that period of time where they married couple simply enjoy one another.

While Susan understood all this, she wasn't thinking about it. Not right then. She had already thought about it before Noah and Grace were born, and it didn't matter to her at that moment. Allow her to think of it later, but for that day, let her forget all the problems that could arise.

"You look lovely," Lucy said finally, "Are you excited?"

Was she kidding? Susan was so excited that she thought her chest was going to burst. She was jittery, her pulse began racing when she thought of what was began thinking about what was going to happen, and her chest felt like it was going to burst—all in a good way. It was her wedding day.

She was about to say something, but then she caught the smile on her sister's face. It was the same "I know something you don't know" smile she had on Christmas, only, perhaps, not so antsy. "What's up?" Susan asked.

"You remember a long time ago, when those Naiads got married?" Lucy asked, crouching beside Grace's cradle and carefully rocked it to the side a few times.

"How could I forget?" Susan asked, laughing inwardly at the memory. It had been several years ago, and many people had been invited. It was enormous, on the Eastern Sea on the beach next to shimmering Cair Paravel. Still, that wasn't exactly what Susan was remembering.

"Well, you really liked it, didn't you?" Lucy stood up and bounced a bit over the balls of her feet.

"A drunk satyr mistook me for the Grand Duchess of the Marsh-wiggles—it wasn't exactly flattering, Lucy." Not to mention, that Marsh-wiggles didn't even have nobility, being faithful to the Crown of Narnia, anyway.

Lucy laughed, "I didn't mean that. I meant like all their friends and family coming there to help them celebrate. I remember that you told me that you wanted to have a wedding with all your friends and family there."

"Well, yes," Susan said, confused, "but I don't see how that's possible now. But it doesn't matter anyway. I'm getting married!" She said this with such intense happiness that she couldn't help but allow her voice to crack as she said it, beaming all the while.

"Well, if you could, would you still want a big wedding with a lot of people to see it?"

Lifting an eyebrow, Susan said, "Just tell me what's up, Lu." She didn't want to answer that question, not really thinking it fair to be asked of her. Yes, she was completely fine—and ecstatic with just marrying Peter outside with two to three witnesses, but she didn't want to compare and think of the wedding she had thought about earlier in her life. It wouldn't be fair.

"Okay, fine." Lucy said, "So, in the past few weeks I've been working on something—it was mostly Peter's idea, though. But, well, look out the window."

Susan walked over to the window, it was still a big of a shock to be able to walk normally again, and looked out the window. She had to blink a few times to make sure she wasn't seeing things.

Down in the large clearing around the house; there was, at first, what Susan expected to see. The centaur that was going to perform the ceremony flipping though a book of Narnian law, but that wasn't the surprising part. What was surprising was that many pew-like seats in rows, and Tumnus and Edmund were escorting groups of people to the seats. Not simply the two guests that they were expecting, but a whole group of people; humans, fauns, centaurs, dryads, Naiads and talking beasts alike.

Looking behind them, towards the trees, she saw the cluster of somewhat familiar caravans in the distance, "The gypsies?" Susan asked, a bit confused.

Lucy nodded, "I was trying to reach that old Duchess friend you had back in Cair Paravel. I eventually got a hold of her, but not before getting in contact with them, and Peter said I should invite them." She paused, and trailed off, "I don't know if you mind…"

Susan shook her head, "No! I don't mind at all, I'm a little surprised that they even accepted the invitation," she thought back to the way she had acted. She'd been curt and brief towards them. Thinking about it made Susan a little upset with herself, although the idea of how gypsies lived still wasn't comfortable to her, she still got a sort of excitement from seeing all those people sitting down to watch her get married.

Lucy continued, "Peter and I thought about it, and we thought that you'd like a wedding with friends there to help you celebrate. I managed to get letters to a few of your friends from Cair Paravel, several of them are already here, actually."

"Thank you," Susan said, taking her sister's hands and giving her an embrace, before Grace began fussing in her cradle. Susan swiftly ran to the back of the room in hopes of quieting Grace before Noah started to cry out of sympathy for his sister.

Susan softly rocked Grace over one arm, "What's the matter, Grace?" she used a small handkerchief to wipe some drool off of the baby's chin, the little girl had stopped crying and stared up at her mother before beginning to settle down to sleep again, "You just wanted be held, is that it?" She smiled, and then, a thought occurred to her, "Hey, Lucy? How are we going to feed all these people?"

XXXXX

Peter was, too, getting ready for the wedding. He had sent Lucy upstairs a few minutes earlier to tell Susan about all the guests they had invited and couldn't help wondering what her reaction was. He knew that she'd like it; he knew Susan. She was a very gregarious person and loved parties and social events.

He couldn't wait to be married to Susan. He loved her more than anything, he loved their children, and he couldn't wait to make their family to be official and legalized.

Before he knew it, the moment had just fallen upon him, and he was standing at the altar. He felt so many things bubbling inside his stomach. The many people sitting in the pew-like chairs were all blurred out, aside from two seats in the front row with Gracie being cradled in Edmund's arms and Noah being held on his aunt's shoulder.

Suddenly, like light from stain glass, he saw Susan appear at the end of the aisle. Light seems to emanate from her skin and dark hair. He felt his knees get weak and his stomach jump into his throat.

He couldn't wait for the rest of his life, getting to wake up next to Susan, from the current state of youth, to when their teeth are falling out and they were all wrinkling. All of it seemed so great. Getting to raise Gracie and Noah together and just living their lives. After today it wouldn't even be their lives, it would be their _life_. The two lives would be phased together. It meant a whole lot to be married, and he couldn't wait for it to begin.

Susan was nearly at the end of the aisle, and Peter took a step forward, mouthing 'I love you' to his bride, who mouthed the same back again as they turned to the front to listen to the centaur perform the marriage.

The centaur began, "We are all gathered here today to join together this man and this woman in marriage according to the laws of Narnia and the Deep Magic upon which it was built."

Peter couldn't help his mind flash back to his past with Susan; their past. He remembered first meeting Susan, the immediate attraction that they both kept down for almost a year. He remembered getting to know her better through letters, letters that he had kept and put into a book that had ultimately earned him their first kiss.

He remembered everything from being sweethearts in the beginning, to the first time held her under covers in the middle of the night. Everything from seeing Susan again at Christmastime to seeing her right after the twins were born. Everything had come back to him in the back of his eyes.

Then he was taken into the present, seeing Susan in all of her glory standing there in front of him, holding his hand in hers, her eyes staring into his, locked into the pupils as they just looked at each other, touching the other's soul.

Soon it was time for their vows, Peter spoke first, reciting the vows he had memorized. It came oddly easily to him, he didn't even have to think about what he was saying; it just rolled off his tongue as he continually looked into his bride's eyes. It seemed to him as though they were the only people in the world.

Susan recited her memorized and planned vows, her voice poetic on its own, the sweet sound of the voice belonging to the woman he was so in love with, the mother of his children, and the woman he wouldn't be able to live without. "I, Susan, take you, Peter, to be my partner, loving what I know of you, and trusting what I do not yet know. I eagerly anticipate the chance to grow together, getting to know the man you will become, and falling in love a little more every day. I promise to love and cherish you through whatever life may bring us."

Then came the exchanging of the rings, a moment when electricity seemed to pulse through their hands as they slipped the golden rings onto the other's finger.

And then, after another little speech, the centaur spoke yet again, this time saying what every single person in the yard area was longing to hear, "And now, in the name of the great Lion Aslan, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may now kiss the bride."

Pulling Susan back in towards him, Peter put a hand on the back of her neck as his lips found their way to hers.

Their marriage kiss, it was everything it was meant to be. The official beginning of their married life together, and it was absolutely perfect, all their love put up in one kiss, and there was nothing in that world—or any for that matter, that could possibly be any better.

After the ceremony, the clearing area where the wedding was being held in was bright and cheerful amidst all the cheerful eating and visiting. The volume was rather high with the clinking of glasses to get the bride and groom to kiss, and meeting of old friends. Several ladies from all about the area, including Mrs. Beaver, an old friend of Susan's from Cair Paravel, and a gypsy woman sat in one corner, fussing over the twins and taking turns holding them and taking care of them.

Polly Plummer was sitting in a chair speaking rather rapidly with the old gypsy Digory. They were catching up in all that had happened in the forty years since they last saw each other; when Polly had told him that she was fatally ill and that they couldn't go through with their engagement.

Tumnus sat at a circular table in the outer area of the clearing, singing a merry drinking song far too off-key with some of the other guests and downing several goblets of wine. They were crying and laughing about nothing in particular.

Lucy and Edmund were nowhere to be found after the ceremony ended. Once the twins were handed off to other women, they disappeared somewhere and no one could find it.

There was music, played courtesy of several guests, which allowed Susan and Peter to dance in each other's arms for quite awhile. They spent most of the night sitting at the tables, however, speaking with each other and guests that had come up to speak with them. Susan was beginning to catch up with some of her courtier friends, and she was beginning to realize, that even if they truly cared about her pre-marital pregnancy, nor did it matter that much. At that moment it didn't, at the very least.

XXXXXX

_Wasn't the wedding just beautiful? I'm so happy for Susan, she's finally getting the happy ending she deserves, that she always deserves._

_You should have seen her face. She became far more beautiful than she always is, just from being so happy._

_Right after the ceremony ended, and the tables and food were brought out, older women began both swarming Susan and the babies. Once both babies were handed off to other women who wanted to hold and excite themselves with my niece and nephew, I found a familiar grip on my now straightened wrist pulling me in the other direction._

_I remember looking at Edmund, probably funnily because he just says, "Come on, I've got a promise that I need to keep."_

_By now we're at the base of a large tree on top of a rolling hill. Looking down, I can just barely see Tumnus's house, and I can just barely hear the music from the wedding party._

_I feel kind of bad about missing this bit of the wedding party, but, well, I doubt that anyone's going to miss me too much._

**A/N: Sorry I've taken so long to update, things have been hectic, as I'm sure they are for loads of people. But, please review! **


	32. Every After Happily

**A/N: Whoa…I've been working on this since the beginning of June it's hard to believe that this is the last chapter! If you liked this, please keep an eye on my stuff because I've gotten several ideas for other fics with the same nature as this (meaning a dark fairytale sort of angle to AU/AR Narnia,) if you'd like to read them. But, for now, just sit back and relax, and please enjoy the final chapter of ****Ever After Happily****!**

_I jump up and hoist myself onto a lower branch. I look over the hills and still can barely see anything over them, but I can see the sky. The bright blue sky, cloudless and never-ending._

_It's so bright it almost hurts my eyes._

_Balancing carefully as to not fall of the branch, I yell "Come on up here and I'll race you to the top!"_

_Edmund climbs up to the lowest bough next to me; he puts his arms around a higher branch and gets ready to jump onto it._

_I say, "Are you ready?"_

_Sending me a toothy grin, he responds, "Are you?"_

_We both take off, climbing up branches, and trying not to slip. Or perhaps it's just me that's trying not to slip and fall. I'm getting fairly high up, and if I fall I'd probably get fairly hurt._

_I can't believe that Edmund remembered! I mean, he promised me that we'd climb a tree here in Lantern Waste last summer. That was almost a year ago, and we've only ever mentioned it once. How could he have remembered after all this time? Well, then again, I've remembered everything, but I'm in love with him. So, does that mean that he might feel the same?_

_I guess that I already know that Edmund likes me, in the very least. But, for some reason, it's a bit of a discovery to me. I hope that it means what I think it might._

_I continue to climb; this tree is higher than it looked at first. Edmund's catching up to me, and I work hard to speed up my climbing rate. After all, it's a race, and there's nothing the matter with a little friendly competition._

_I finally reach the topmost bough of the tree and I sit on it. Edmund's still down a little ways._

_Sitting on the branch, I look up to the sky. A few birds flutter by, they flew so quickly that I'm not even sure if they're Talking Birds or not._

_It feels nice to be so up high, so close to the sky. I feel as if I could reach up with my hands and sift my fingers through it as if it were water or cloths. I notice that the wind's beginning to pick up, it's not too bad, just a slight breeze, that occasionally rises in gusts for mere moments before calming again._

_You know? I've never been this close to the sky before, and I haven't really been alone with Edmund in a long time, but I like it. I like it a lot._

XXXXXX

Edmund wasn't quite aware that Lucy was as good at climbing trees as she was. Perhaps if he were, he would have started the race on a bough with more traction and an easier branch to hold on to, even though he wasn't being all too competitive. Regardless, he lost the race.

He was still quite a ways below Lucy when she reached the top of the tree. He watched her as she settled onto the top branch and reached her arms out to the side, palms flexed and head back, facing the sky.

"What are you doing?" He asked, leaning his elbow on the tree's trunk, and attempting to make it look natural.

Still looking towards the sky, Lucy said, "Flying," before looking downward to him and began to laugh. Her nose wrinkled, and her mouth went back into a full-on smile as she did so.

He laughed back with her, before clambering up to the topmost bough and sitting next to her. He soon found himself staring at her again. The longer he had known Lucy, the more beautiful she had become to him.

In first meeting her, when he was eight, he hadn't really a mind for what he found pretty and what he didn't, but he was enchanted—and disturbed, by the utter goodness hidden in plain sight in the deep blue irises. Then, when he had met her again at the fountain in Cair Paravel, he had thought her neither plain nor pretty, and while it was still true that she didn't have the kind of looks that most people thought as beautiful, they were enough to turn his knees into jelly.

After all that they had been through, after getting to know her sweet personality, he had found that he absolutely loved everything about her. Even the little things that initially annoyed him, he found that he, in time, had come to tolerate, and even be thankful for. One of these traits, he had disliked with a passion when he was still trying to hide everything from her and the rest of the world, but now he found that he owed everything to it. Her curiosity. If it weren't for that part of her, if it weren't for her prying, he probably wouldn't be where he was that day. Sitting next to her, an absolutely freed man, in a tree.

In fact, he felt as if he had had a sack full of rocks on his back for all his life, and suddenly, after speaking with Aslan, it went away. And he felt like he owed that partially to Lucy, and her curiosity. He had never realized he had such a mental burden on his shoulders all these years until it went away.

If it weren't for meeting her, and becoming friends with her, he would still be hiding from everything, he would still be afraid of anyone discovering anything, and ready to flee like a coward if anyone did.

Edmund returned his distraction to Lucy, and his favorite part of her physical person. Her lips, so often the cause of his distractions when looking at her, were moving again. Edmund braced himself for the usual "Why are you staring at me?" bit, and was a little surprised when it didn't come.

All Lucy did do, however, was get a look on the verge between distantness and something that looked vaguely like happiness and sadness all together, as she said, "Do you think we should be getting back soon? Or do you think we should climb around for a bit?"

"Let's not go back just yet," Edmund said, "Besides, no one'll be looking for us, trust me. But, if anyone asks," his lips spread apart into a familiar impish smile, "we can just say we're out for firewood."

"But we aren't getting firewood," Lucy said, playing along with the banter, she very well knew that no one would go looking for them. Everyone was down in the clearing, congratulating both Peter and Susan, or otherwise swooning over the twins, and having their own fun. Lucy's job, for the moment, was to disappear and have a good time in her own way while everyone else celebrated in his or hers. She wasn't too terribly comfortable during parties anyway; they made her dreadfully nervous.

They continued climbing the tall tree. Shuffling on far-out limbs and jumping from one tree to another nearby, they even played an odd (and somewhat dangerous) sort of version of hide and seek tag in the high up branches. They spent a long time simply doing this, and enjoying one another's company.

They barely spoke a word, very few sounds escaped their lips, aside from the occasional shouts to the other that they could see the entire country from the far up point they were at. And yet, although they were being quiet, they found themselves saying things just through they way they looked at the other, just through their eyes.

Lucy's eyes said, "Look at how high up we are!" and, "I can't believe you remembered!" Yet, somewhere in the little bits of light blue speckled in and around the cobalt iris, she was confessing everything. In her eyes, she was saying, "I'm in love with you." Whether or not Edmund could actually see it, that was unknown.

Edmund was, too, speaking with his eyes. They were saying, at first glance, things like, "Well, I promised you, didn't I?" but then, he too had something else behind his own dark brown irises. It was something rather hard to decipher, but seemed awfully close, and perhaps even identical, to what Lucy's were saying.

"Do you think, maybe, that we should be getting down now?" Lucy said, nearly a half hour later. She looked a great deal more disheveled than when they had first begun climbing the tree. She had nearly torn her skirt several times on the poky branches that she wasn't being quite as careful as someone in a nice dress ought to be when climbing trees, if anyone really ought to climb trees in nice dresses at all. Her hair had been windblown from the breeze and was beginning to tangle in odd ways behind her neck.

"I guess so," Edmund replied, shrugging his shoulders as he swiftly clambered from branch to branch to lower himself to the ground. At this point, Lucy thought he rather resembled a leopard rushing down the tree, and stifled a giggle in her throat.

Edmund crouched down on the lowest branch, and jumped down to the ground, landing on the soft grass with a rather distinctive _thud!_ noise. He then turned towards Lucy, offering his hand out of common curtsey, only to find that the girl was already on the ground.

Lucy hung around by the trunk of the tree, running her hands over the rough bark, and picking a loose bit with her thumbnail. Truth be told, she didn't exactly want to go back yet. She liked being away from it all, just her and Edmund. Not to mention, standing on solid ground reminded her of some things that she had been procrastinating on thinking about.

"Something wrong?" Edmund asked, leaning on the tree next to her. She was just so happy a second ago, and then her feet got on the ground.

"I'm just thinking," Lucy said, trying to brush off a thought that had squeezed its way into her mind, and she wasn't even quite sure exactly of what was the matter. She looked up at Edmund, who seemed ready to listen to her, and so, she decided to speak, and think as she went. "Well, Susan and Peter are going to move back to Cair Paravel soon, now that they're married and all. And," she paused and thought for a second, "I'm happy they're married, I've wanted them to get married for a long time now. But, I've never thought very long about what _I'd _do after they got married, and now I don't know what to do."

"I always thought that you'd move back to the Cair too," Edmund said, "You love the east. What's the problem?"

This is where Lucy didn't quite know where she was going with her thoughts, but she decided to just let them run, "I don't really think that Susan'll want her little sister around all the time while she's trying to raise Grace and Noah. She's got her own family now," it was a bit saddening to think of that. Yes, Lucy knew that she and Susan would always be sisters, and nothing could change that, but the fact was that everything _was_ about to change. Susan was a mother and a wife now, and Lucy was an orphaned bastard without a clue as to what path she should take next in life. She wasn't bitter about this; it was just a fact, and a fact that was rather irritating.

"So, you don't want to move back to Cair Paravel?" Edmund asked, confused a little.

"It depends, are you going?" Lucy said, and then blushed, that sounded so much better in her head. Out loud, it just sounded stupid.

Cocking his head to the side, Edmund said, "I wasn't really planning on it," he stood back on his own two feet instead of leaning on the tree's trunk, "I was kind of thinking of trying to attend the University of Narnia to study the law, I don't know nearly as much about it as I'd like to."

"Oh," Lucy said, and muttered a weak, "You'll be good at that." The University of Narnia was located nearly in the center of the country, so if she stayed in Lantern Waste, or moved to Cair Paravel, she would still not get to see him as often as she'd like.

"Really, Lu," Edmund said, "you're being too subtle for me. You don't want to move to Cair Paravel and overstay your welcome with your sister. That much I get. But, how am I apart of this?"

Lucy turned to face Edmund, "You've got everything to do with it, I don't want to be away from you," inhaling slowly, she had a feeling that she should just tell him up front. After all, the worst that could happen would be that he didn't feel the same way, and she knew that he did at least like her; somehow she just had a feeling. So, why was it just so darn hard?

Figuring he finally got the gist of it, Edmund didn't really know what to say, and so, he didn't say anything. He just stood there, a smile etched on his face, and just staring at her before taking her hand and pulling her in closer to him, and placing one arm around her waist, and keeping his other hand in hers, down limply in between them.

Their faces moved closer, as they have gotten several times before. No matter how many times they were that close before, they still had the butterflies and jitters that the first time did. He watched her as her lips, with their pretty curves and pink color, as they got closer and closer to him. For the first time ever, he pondered for more than a fleeting moment what they were going to feel and taste like against his own.

Still, like all the other times, they stopped mere centimeters away from the other's face. If this was from sheer habit or for another reason, it was unsure, but what happened next was certain: Lucy used her free hand to snake it around Edmund's neck and quickly pushed up onto the balls of her feet, and pressed her lips onto his.

It was, for lack of any other word, strange. Exhilarating, but strange. It was like every sense in Lucy's body was raised ten-fold, at least. His lips felt warm and, though they were slightly chapped, soft in their own strange, contradicting way.

She felt one of his hands leave her own, and while her fingers felt slightly forlorn for a little while, it was alright when she realized that both of his arms were cocooning themselves around her waist. It was perfect, as far as she was concerned. The only thing between them, at this point was air, and there wasn't that much air in between them anyway.

When Lucy slowly pulled away, rocking back from the balls of her feet to her heels, and she said, not in a small voice, "I love you."

She said this so very fast that it was possible that Edmund wouldn't have been able to hear what she'd said. But he had. It was possible that he could have heard an entirely separate arrangement of syllables, but he didn't. He heard exactly what Lucy had said. He heard it clear as day. "I love you," she had said.

Edmund, of course, was just as in love with Lucy as she was with him. He had felt that way longer than she had, he had loved her ever since she had snagged her elbow on a rosebush nearly a year ago, however long it took him to actually realize it.

In fact, the ground was spinning and he was still left dizzy from when she had kissed him. He had finally got to feel the part of her physical person that he had been very nearly obsessive with whenever he had the time to just look at her.

Regardless, the words didn't come easy to him. Saying this, well, to him it was more than just telling her what he felt for her, it was a commitment, and if it didn't work out between him and Lucy, well that would be hard enough on his ego, much less having committing every part of him to this one girl, not that he didn't want to. Finally, he was able to meet her eyes, and he just said it, it was easier than he had first anticipated. "I love you, too."

XXXXXXXXX

Four weeks passed by as if it were no time at all, and in that time, Peter's leave was nearly over. He had to take his wife and children back to Cair Paravel, so that they could buy a house and some land before his duties as a knight started up again.

Lucy thought very hard about what she wanted to do with her life. It was a big decision, and she had to consider it very carefully.

When she finally decided on what she wanted to do, Susan tried to talk her out of it for days.

However, Lucy was just as stubborn as an ox when it came to this, she could not be swayed in any different direction. Deciding on saying that it just felt right to do what she was going to do, and listening to, but not really considering, any of Susan's arguments.

Still, the day finally came when Susan, Peter, Grace, and Noah all had to leave. The tears ran, and the goodbyes were sad, it was truly a very emotional experience.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Susan asked Lucy, holding her sister's hands tightly, and fighting back a wall of tears building up.

Lucy nodded; she too was on the verge of crying. "Yeah. I don't know, it just feels like it's what I'm supposed to do; I can't really explain it.

All their lives, they had been together, and now, well, it was time for a new story to start. A story for Susan, and a separate story for Lucy; they weren't as together as they once had been. She would no longer be there with her sister all the time. While the prospect might be tempting to most siblings, it was a saddening thought for these two.

Susan embraced her sister for the last time in what she knew would be awhile. Feeling a lump arise in her throat, she coughed delicately. "Be sure to write as soon as you two get to the University."

Why her sister was moving to the town right outside of the University of Narnia wasn't quite beyond Susan's imagination, and she knew why her sister made the decision she did. In all honesty, it was the same decision Susan would have made herself in the situation, although she couldn't exactly be glorified for her decision-making skills. Still, Lucy was a different person, one that would hopefully make better choices. Leaning in, Susan whispered to her sister, "Remember to be careful, okay?"

Lucy flushed pink and yelped, "Susan!" but then calmed down and gave her sister her word, that she would, in fact, be careful.

At last, the two girls said their final goodbyes and next thing she knew, Susan was sitting in the carriage as it was being driven off by a satyr who had agreed to drive them to Cair Paravel, on the way there himself. With her head halfway outside the window, Susan leaned out and waved to her sister until Tumnus's house was out of sight.

XXXXXXXX

_The next part of my life involves living right outside the University of Narnia. I'll try to converse with Susan as much as possible, through letters and whatnot, and we'll stay close. I know it. _

I have no idea as to what comes next to my life. But the unknown's good. I have someone to share it with. Someone I love.

_Now, this is where you'll expect to hear, 'and we all lived happily ever after' isn't it? I'm sorry to report, that I just can't say that. _

_I can't tell you that we all lived happily ever after, because I don't know if that would be entirely honest. _

_My life has never gotten a typical 'happily ever after' it's always been more scrambled than that. And, well, that keeps things interesting, at least. _

_My name's Lucy, and I live on the edge of the forest. _

_And this story is over. _


End file.
